Metadata

“Conflicts” shows the recent military, political and socioeconomical conflicts worldwide Each of these conflicts has the potential for a further escalation and possibly have global consequences. Some of these conflicts may seem far in the past, but they are still relevant up to this date and can rekindle anytime.

Layers:

1. Nexus Insight
   https://nexusinsight.org is a global intelligence firm, kindly sharing their collective expertise, including unique localized knowledge and perspective.
2. News
   Geopolitical news, most of them are derived from social media “blogger” channels, when clicking the link in the popup you directly get to the data source.
3. News History
   Same as “News” but it shows the older archived data.
4. Conflicts
   Click the icons to see more information on the timeline and the involved parties. There is also a link to a more detailed description of the conflict, mostly to the corresponding Wikipedia article.
   Several areas are marked, for example claims in the South China Sea (note especially China’s famous 9 dash line in red and the satellite Imagery there at the bases and have a look at China’s built up in the area).
   The Himalayas are contested as well. Many territories in the Himalayas are claimed by different nations – such as China, India and Pakistan. One of the most prominent examples is the Kashmir region claimed by both, Pakistan and India. Several of these regions are very important origins of fresh water sources.
   Other areas in war territories are marked in terms of “areas under control of”, such as territories controlled by Russia in Ukraine.
   
5. Fires / NASA FIRMS
   https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/ 
   The Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) distributes Near Real-Time (NRT) active fire data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua and Terra satellites, and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard S-NPP, NOAA 20 and NOAA 21 (formally known as JPSS-1 and JPSS-2). Globally these data are available within 3 hours of satellite observation.
6. Air & Naval Base Activities
   There are several Russian and Chinese air or naval bases marked with a blue circle, there you have an activity estimation. The activity is measured using SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Satellite Images. Aircrafts typically show a strong signal reflection in these Radar images and therefore a higher backscatter signal is considered a higher abundancy of Aircrafts, meaning more activity. You also have a Google Satellite image with the superimposed activity detection in blue, always from the last month. So everywhere we have these blue markings in the image, we have a strong Radar backscatter.
7. Russian Losses last 7 days
   It shows the visually confirmed and georeferenced losses of Russian equipment in the Ukraine war. Data is derived from http://ukr.warspotting.net
8. Nuclear Test Sites. Sites of nuclear weapon tests.
9. Minefields
   OSM areas considered as minefields.
10. Uyghur Detention Centers
    Chinese Uyghur Detention Centers were mapped by the UN. Note that most of the points do not represent the exact location of the centres, but rather a regional approximation.
11. Terrorist Attacks since 2000
    Heatmap of all terrorist attacks happened since the year 2000. Source: Global Terrorism Database™ (GTD)

Large migration can lead to conflicts, but they are also an indicator in which nation the people tendentially want to live – and where not! So migration is caused by conflict and can again lead to more conflict.

1. Percentage of Immigrants. Number immigrants compared to native population; a darker blue indicates a higher immigrant population ratio. Source: The world bank.
2. Number of Immigrants in absolute numbers since approximatel the 1970s. Source: The world bank.
3. Number of Emigrants in absolute numbers since approximatel the 1970s. Source: The world bank.
4. Migration Routes. The most important migration routes currently.
5. Strong Borders. Borders that are really hard to cross.

“Military” shows Global military installations, such as Airports, bases or nuclear missile sites. Most of the data derived from Open Streep Map, but quite a lot was mapped manually – either by us or by IOSI (iosi.global).

1. Military Aircrafts
   Real time military aircraft data from ADS-B-exchange.com. Positions get refreshed every 5 minutes.
2. Military Units
   It shows the approximate operational region of Russian and Ukrainian military units. The data was derived from militaryland.net. Note that these are really just approximate locations.
3. Mil Ops vessels, last position
   Last AIS signal position of vessels considered to be on military operation. Note: this layer has a very long loading time and you have to fully zoom in to display the vessel names. Source: https://atlas.redmic.es. Furthermore, the last known position of selected aircraft carriers. The positions are mapped from Vessel Tracking (AIS) and from public news sites. You can see the corresponding news source when clicking the location.
4. Nuclear Missile Range
   Nuclear ballistic missile ranges of China (14’000 km), North Korea (15’000 km), India (5000 km), and Pakistan (2800 km). These ranges are estimations and do only consider land-based rocket launches from the currently mapped positions (not included are marine/submarine launches, mobile land launches and aircraft launches).
5. Nuclear Weapons Sites
   Merged launch sites of China, North Korea, India and Pakistan. Zoom into the satellite imagery to have a look at the silo’s locations. When you click the icons of Chinese silos you can open links to IMINT images. Note that India and Pakistan do not have giant missile silos like China, but several mobile land launchers – here are the positions where such launchers were spotted in the past, or where assumed nuclear weapons storage sites are.
6. Military Facilities
   Facilities considered to have a military componend, for example satellite ground stations, early warning radars or factories building military components.
7. Naval Bases
   Some of the most important military naval bases worldwide.
8. Military Airports
   OSM areas considered as military airports.
9. Military Bases
   OSM areas considered as military.

Some of the most important military – and some non-military – alliances worldwide. Source: Wikipedia.org

The Military Comparison map shows the firepower of the 45 strongest nations. All data derived from: globalfirepower.com. The firepower index not only compares military units, but also the county’s geography, financial situation etc.

Layers:

1. Firepower Index since 2023
   Data derived from: globalfirepower.com. The firepower index not only compares military units, but also the county’s geography, financial situation etc.
2. Total Military Personnel
   The total military personnel consist of active official personnel, reserve personnel and paramilitary (such as mercenaries).

4. Fighter Aircrafts
5. Fighter Aircrafts
6. Fighter Aircrafts
7. Tanks
8. ACFT Carriers
9. Destroyers
10. Frigates
11. Corvettes
12. Submarines
13. Spending as percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Production)
14. Spending as percentage of Government spending

1. Population Density
   Data from NASA, where a darker red indicates a higher population density. Source: https://gitc.earthdata.nasa.gov
2. Artificial lights
   The “black marble” dataset from NASA, showing artificial light pollution. Source: https://maps.eatlas.org.au
3. Artificial lights, most recent
   Most recent VIIRS SNPP Nighttime Acquisition. Source: gitc.earthdata.nasa.gov
4. Submarine Data Cables
   This is a schematic map and does not represent the real positions of the cables but more the connections between cities.
5. Roads and Railways
   Major highways, railways and primary roads worldwide. Source: https://datacore.unepgrid.ch
6. International Airports
   OSM areas considered as International Aerodromes.
7. Naval Ports
   Some of the biggest Ports worldwide (selection).
8. Mines
   The biggest (in terms of mining quantity) mines of selected minerals and ores worldwide. A bigger symbol represents a higher mining quantity. Click the icons to get more information.
   Sources: globaldata.com and mining-technology.com
9. Special Infrastructure
   Space Ports
   OSM areas considered as spaceports/aerodromes.
   Semiconductor Factories
   Some of the biggest semiconductor factories worldwide (selection).

1. PowerPlants
   Nuclear Power Plants (from OSM), Water Dams (Some of the biggest water dams worldwide (according to the construction volume – and also the biggest energy producers), (selection)), Wind, Solar, Coal, Oil and Gas Power Plants worldwide. Source: World Resource Institude (https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/WRI_GPPD_power_plants)

1. Oil and Gas Wells
   Active Oil and Gas fields mapped in a heatmap. Note it does not represent oil and gas production, but only absolute number of wells. Several areas are not included, like Saudi Arabia.
2. Refineries
   OSM areas considered Oil Refinery
3. Pipelines
   Selection (according to pipeline length) of OSM oil or gas pipelines

The most devastating natural disasters of the current year. Click the icons to receive more information and a link to news sites describing the disaster. There are additional layers linked to natural disasters, such as recent weather data.

“Weather”:

1. Geo Sat HRV
   Most recent geostationary satellite images from Eumetsat/SEVIRI in the higher spatial resolution HRV. Only available for Europe.
2. Geo Sat IR
   Most recent geostationary satellite images from Eumetsat/SEVIRI, GOES and HIMAWARI, shown with a colorized infrared band, to highlight cloud coverage and type. These satellites typically take aqcuisitions every 15 minutes. Source: http://wms.fmi.fi/
3. Geo Sat VIS
   Most recent geostationary satellite images from Eumetsat/SEVIRI, GOES and HIMAWARI, shown in visible light bands on daytime areas and with a colorized infrared band, to highlight cloud coverage and type. These satellites typically take aqcuisitions every 15 minutes. Source: http://wms.fmi.fi/

“Disasters”:

1. Floods
2. Storms
3. Tsunamis
4. Volcanic Eruptions
5. Fires
   Active Fire Pixels: NASA FIRMS product from geostationary images to detect thermal anomalies. It shows active fires of the last 24 hours – https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/
6. Earthquakes
   Recent Earthquakes source: http://earthquakes.ga.gov.au

“Hazard”:

1. Earthquake Hazard, Source: https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu
2. Drought Hazard, Source: https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu
3. Flood Hazard, Source: https://datacore.unepgrid.ch
4. Cyclone Hazard, Source: https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu
5. Volcano Hazard, Source: https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu

1. Maxar Images
   https://www.maxar.com/ Maxar space systems is a space technology and manufacturing company. They provide several datasets of satellite image mosaics, which you can select with the time slider on top of the map.
2. Latest Landsat-8 Acquisition
   Source: NASA Landsat
3. Latest Sentinel-2 Acquisition
   Source: ESA Copernicus
4. Latest S1 Acquisition
   Source: ESA Copernicus
5. Latest S3 Acquisition
   Source: ESA Copernicus
6. Hillshade
   Source: https://gis.ngdc.noaa.gov/
7. Administrative Borders
   Source: https://view.eumetsat.int/geoserver/

Use OSINT by yourself and map whatever you feel is related to military, conflict or geopolitics.