What is Pulse?
Pulse is Noble Africa's interactive intelligence surface — a 3D globe that layers live and curated data onto a geographic context. Switch between curated view modes, combine live data overlays freely, and drill into countries, events, and travel intelligence from a single unified map.
Some layers draw from live sources updated in real time; others use curated sample data while production-grade integrations are in development. Each layer is clearly labelled so you always know what you're looking at.
View Modes
Each mode sets a different combination of layers on the globe — curated for a specific use case. Switch freely — your overlay preferences are preserved between modes.
Live Overlays
Unlike view modes, overlays can be combined freely. Stack news events on top of weather, or layer flight paths with conflict monitoring — the choice is yours.
News Events
Near-live news plotted as data points — African press by default (via GDELT), with an all-sources option. Geographic placement uses country centroids — approximate, not precise.
Safety Assessment (African data)
Country coloring from African-published sources — Mo Ibrahim Foundation IIAG 2024 security & safety scores plus WHO AFRO health grades. Western government advisories appear as labeled external references only, never as map colors.
Conflict Events
Country assessments with conflict event monitoring — an African-led composite (IIAG 2024 · African press · WHO AFRO) with multi-source events. Demo data pending live source integration.
Weather
Temperature and conditions from Open-Meteo (cached ~5 min) with global coverage.
Internet Disruption
Country-level internet shutdown and censorship alerts from the OONI Observatory (free, no API key required).
Seismic Activity
Significant earthquake alerts from USGS Earthquake Hazards Program (free, no API key required).
Fire / Thermal
Active fire and thermal anomaly detections from NASA FIRMS. Requires free NASA Earthdata MAP_KEY.
Ship Traffic
Maritime vessel positions. Demo data pending live AIS integration.
Live Flights
Aircraft positions via OpenSky Network. Availability depends on OpenSky's free tier (rate-limited).
How It Works
Choose a View Mode
Select from eight curated modes — each combines a different set of layers on the globe, from clean country boundaries to full intelligence overlays and everything at once.
Layer Live Overlays
Toggle additional data layers independently. Combine news events, the African safety assessment, weather, and more on top of any view mode.
Explore and Drill In
Click countries for detail, search to focus, and open the live news feed panel — all from one interactive surface.