How Atlas works with your data
Where data comes from, how it becomes a map, what gets published and what Atlas may do with it. The same standard for every map.
Twelve themes on the corridor map
Each map groups its layers into themes. Each draws on named sources such as OpenStreetMap, NASA Earth observation and official corridor studies, and every layer carries its attribution.
Transport
- Ports
- Which ports and harbours serve the corridor, and where are the border controls on the way inland?
- Rail
- Where do the railways run, and where are the stations and shunting yards along them?
- Roads
- Which roads link the port of Monrovia to inland towns and markets?
- Aerodromes
- Which aerodromes sit within reach of the corridor?
Energy and industry
- Energy
- Where are the power plants, transmission lines and cross-border interconnectors?
- Minerals
- Where are the mines, deposits and mineral processing sites?
- Economic zones
- Which special economic zones, storage and logistics sites lie near the rail line?
Land and water
- Agriculture
- Where are the agricultural zones and the agro-processing sites that serve them?
- Water risk
- Where is baseline water stress highest, and where is future water risk rising?
- Rainfall
- How did recent monthly rainfall compare with the usual pattern?
Places and projects
- Urban centres
- Which towns and cities anchor the corridor?
- Project pipeline
- Which corridor projects are in the governed pipeline, and where are they?
The map lifecycle
Every step runs through one governed action layer: authorise, validate, execute, audit. Publication needs approval, and agents and external tools can never approve their own requests.
- 1Connect
Connect
Link PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Corridor OS, a GeoJSON URL, an ArcGIS FeatureServer, a WFS, or upload a file.
Workspace editor.
- 2Build
Build
Create a map, add layers from datasets and group them in the layers panel.
Map editor.
- 3Style
Style
Set colours, icons, sizes, labels, legends, clustering and zoom ranges.
Map editor.
- 4Version
Version
Save snapshots of the map and restore an earlier one when needed.
Map editor.
- 5Publish
Publish
Publish an immutable, checksummed version at a stable URL.
A person with publish permission approves.
- 6Embed
Embed
Share the live link, embed the map with an iframe or read it with the typed map client.
Map owner.
- 7Ask Atlas
Ask Atlas
Ask the map questions in plain language, in English or Portuguese.
Anyone with access to the map.
Data sources
Seven ways to bring data in, grouped here into five families. Each connection is tested before use, and each dataset records where it came from.
Databases
PostgreSQL and PostGIS tables or read-only SQL, reprojected to EPSG:4326.
Corridor OS
A read-only link to a Corridor OS database (for example MRU), with built-in project presets.
GeoJSON URL
A public or token-protected GeoJSON document over http(s).
ArcGIS and WFS
ArcGIS REST FeatureServer or MapServer with paging, and OGC Web Feature Service.
File upload
GeoJSON, CSV, KML or KMZ, or a zipped Shapefile.
Every dataset records
- Source kind and reference
- Feature count and geographic coverage
- Attribute schema
- Attribution, licence and provider
- Ingestion status
- Content hash, so versions change only when data does
Answers come from the data
The language model explains results. It never produces them. Atlas answers by calling governed tools on the data you can see, and says so when the data is not there.
Navigate
- Fly the camera to places, features and extents
- Find places by name
- Open pages, panels and sections
- Highlight and select features
Query
- List datasets and explain their fields
- Query published features with filters
- Count and summarise what is on the map
- Report coverage and unavailable layers
Act
- Toggle and reorder layers
- Create and restyle layers
- Validate a map for publication
- Request publication for a person to approve
Access modes
Each map has an access mode set by its owner. It decides who can open the map, read its data and embed it.
PUBLIC
Anyone with the link can view and embed the published version.
ORGANISATION
Only signed-in members of the organisation that owns the map.
PRIVATE
Only the people given access to the map in the workspace.
DRAFT
Unpublished edits. Never visible through the public URL or an embed.
Governed records, not loose files
- Maps
- Slug, camera, basemap, access mode and status, scoped to an organisation.
- Datasets
- Source, schema, coverage, licence and ingestion status for the data behind every layer.
- Layers
- Style, group, order, visibility and zoom range, stored exactly as the viewer renders them.
- Versions
- Immutable snapshots with a checksum, who published them and when.
- Connections
- Tested links to external sources, with secrets encrypted and write-only.
- Audit trail
- Every action by a person or an agent: who, what, when and the outcome.
One service, many maps
A new map is configuration, not a new codebase. These maps run on the platform today, each published and versioned on its own.
AfCEN all maps
Every layer from every AfCEN map in one place, with live hazard feeds and Earth-observation layers for Africa.
UNIDO corridors
The Mano River Union and Liberty corridors: road trunk, power line, rail, ports and border crossings.
Africa continental
11 continental datasets, from countries and development corridors to railways, ports, power plants and mines.
Maps show the data their sources contain, at the date and precision of those sources. Locations, boundaries and attributes are indicative. They are not survey-grade, cadastral or legal records, and should be verified on the ground before any investment, land or engineering decision.
Bring your corridor data to the map
Connect a database, a web service or a file, shape the layers, and publish a map your partners can open, embed and question.