Compare coverage, then read the reporting

A globe makes geographic patterns easy to see. It can also make incomplete coverage look more complete than it is. OrbitalView’s markers describe a selected feed of recent reporting, not a census of everything happening in the world. Use the map as a starting point for questions.

Start with a place and a question

Choose a country or region, then search for a topic. A country match means that the report is associated with that place through headline wording, a feed description or publisher tags. It does not necessarily mean the reported event happened there. A diplomatic story, for example, can be connected to several countries. Read the original report to establish the event’s location and the role each country plays.

Count organisations, not feed channels

BBC World and BBC regional feeds come from the same news organisation. Seeing a headline in several BBC channels is not independent corroboration. The coverage breakdown identifies organisations separately from feed channels. Related-report groups preserve publisher links so you can compare what different reports actually say, rather than treating every link as a separate event.

Check publication time and what changed

The current feed window is 72 hours. That is a publication window, not a guarantee that an event happened within it. A recent article can discuss an older incident, court case or anniversary. Open the publisher’s page to check updates and corrections. A saved-feed label means OrbitalView could not obtain a fresh result; refreshing the globe cannot create reporting that a publisher has not supplied.

Use colours as a sorting aid

Red and yellow categories use headline wording and publication time. They help surface certain reports but can miss context or mistake references to previous events for current incidents. Category colours expire after 24 hours. A country marker inherits the highest category among its matching stories, so one report can change its colour. That does not measure the risk across an entire country.

Look for gaps as well as clusters

A region with many story groups may have several events, repeated coverage of one event, or more available publisher feeds. A region with few groups may be underrepresented. OrbitalView shows regional counts and unavailable feeds so you can see those limitations. Counts overlap when a story mentions countries in different regions. A report with no recognised country remains available as unlocated coverage.

Build a useful reading routine

1. Start with world headlines, then select a region or country.
2. Check the source, publication time and related-report links.
3. Read the original articles for evidence, context and corrections.
4. Use official local information for decisions involving immediate safety.

If a marker or group seems wrong, send the article link and the country shown. Feedback helps identify weaknesses in the matching rules. For the exact feed selection and category definitions, read About & sources.