| Experiment | Source | What we learned | Status |
|---|
| Google photorealistic 3D for the whole region | Google Map Tiles API | Cities and towns in full 3D; rural areas and the Central Plateau are lower detail. Uses the same key and free allowance as NZ Map Lab. | Trying |
| Region boundary | OpenStreetMap (relation 1638992), ODbL | Matches the Horizons region. The official version is Stats NZ's Regional Council boundary, which needs a free account to download. | Keep |
| Places of interest: Linton, Ōhakea, Waiouru, Palmerston North Airport | OpenStreetMap outlines | Outlines are public and mapped by volunteers. Useful anchors for the aircraft layer. | Trying |
| Live aircraft | adsb.lol community ADS-B network, ODbL | Shows what aircraft broadcast publicly; military aircraft often don't, or only some of the time. The free feed allows about 500 requests a day, so positions refresh about every 90 seconds and are shared by all viewers. | Trying |
| Live river levels | Horizons Regional Council Hilltop server | 172 sites with a water level every 5 to 15 minutes. Each card shows 48 hours and whether it's rising or falling. Levels are relative to each gauge, so compare a site with itself. | Keep |
| Earthquakes | GeoNet API, CC BY 4.0 | The last 100 New Zealand quakes, filtered to the region; size by magnitude, colour by depth. | Trying |
| Experiment | Source | What we learned | Status |
|---|
| DOC conservation land | Department of Conservation open data, CC BY 4.0 | 841 reserves, conservation areas, marginal strips and national parks in the region, drawn as green outlines. Hundreds of separate outlines froze the page, so they're drawn as one batch. | Trying |
| DOC tracks | Department of Conservation open data, CC BY 4.0 | 233 tracks; closed ones dashed. Status comes from DOC's asset data and can lag behind track alerts. Tracks are lifted onto the 3D surface when you zoom in. | Trying |
| Satellites overhead | CelesTrak orbital elements; positions computed in the browser (satellite.js) | The space stations and about 150 of the brightest satellites, shown when they're above the horizon from Palmerston North. Tap one for its height, speed, where to look, and its next orbit. Use "Sky view" to see them. | Trying |