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Interactive Map

The Interactive Map widget visualizes events with geographic data on an interactive map. You can either manually plot selected events, or connect the map to a live event stream for real-time geospatial monitoring.

The map supports two modes that control how events appear and update:

  • Manual mode: Plot individual events or notifications.
  • Streaming mode: Continuously display events from a live event stream.

Manual Mode​

Manual mode lets you plot specific events or notifications directly on the map. When an event contains geographic data, its location is displayed immediately.

Drag an event or notification into the map widget to view its geographic footprint.

Streaming Mode​

The Interactive Map widget can be connected to a single stream of events. When connected, the map updates automatically as new events are ingested into Workstation, providing a real-time geospatial view of incoming data.

Streaming mode supports both clustered and non-clustered visualization of events plotted on the map.

note

Only the most recent 100,000 events in a stream can be plotted on the map. When the map is connected to an events stream, any events older than this limit are automatically removed from the map.

Connecting Event Streams​

To stream events to the Interactive Map, the map must be connected to the Events Stream:

  1. Ensure an Interactive Map widget is already added to your workspace.
  2. Open the Events Stream drawer from the left-hand workspace menu.
  3. In the top-right corner of the Events Stream drawer, locate the Linkage icon.
  4. Click and drag the icon into the Interactive Map widget.

Once connected, the Interactive Map enters streaming mode and continuously updates as:

  • New events are ingested.
  • Existing events are updated.
  • Filters on the connected event stream are changed.

For more information about configuring and filtering event streams, see the Events Stream.

Configuring the Map​

The Interactive Map widget offers several options for displaying data.

Clustering​

In streaming mode, the Interactive Map ignores polygon geometry and instead uses event coordinates to group nearby events into clusters. These clusters are displayed as donut charts, which show how many events occur within close geographic proximity (for example, within the same building or neighborhood).

To view more information about a cluster:

  1. In a workspace with an Interactive Map widget connected to an event stream, locate a donut chart cluster.
  2. Click the cluster. A popup appears, showing:
    • The total number of events in the cluster.
    • Two donut charts: One showing the composition of event types, and another showing the distribution of risk levels.
  3. Click elsewhere on the map (or another cluster) to close the popup.

Marker Appearance​

Clustering can be disabled at any time if the default clustered view is not desired. When clustering is turned off, events are displayed as individual dots. Dot size and glow effects can be used to highlight areas by risk level or event density.

To disable clustering:

  1. In the upper-right corner of the Interactive Map widget, click the Settings icon. A settings drawer opens on the right.
  2. Adjust the map options as needed:
    • Cluster Nearby Points: Check or uncheck to switch between clustered and unclustered marker views.
    • Add Decorative Glow: Enables a glow effect to emphasize markers.
    • Min and Max Sizing: Adjusts marker size based on risk level and event density.
  3. Click the X to close the settings drawer.

Working with Map Data​

The Interactive Map widget offers multiple ways to work with map data.

Map Markers​

For manual mode users, events and notifications are displayed as geo-coordinates or polygons, represented by colored map markers. These markers are customizable event decorations that can help emphasize or differentiate event types.

Markers are:

  • Plotted to exact coordinates as necessary.
  • Color-coded by event type.

Markers also contain more detail in a small popup.

To access additional details from map markers:

  1. From an open workspace containing a Map widget with at least one event plotted, locate a map marker.
  2. Click the map marker, a new pop up opens. This popup contains:
    • The primary title of the event.
    • The color associated with the marker.
    • The icon associated with the marker.
    • Small gray circles that represent event data fields. Hover over a circle to see the value displayed (excluding geodata).
    • A link to Send This Event To an open instance of Object Details Viewer. If no Object Details Viewer instance is open, this link does nothing.

Globe View​

Globe View is an alternative visualization mode that displays events on a 3D globe instead of a 2D map.

The view can be switched from 2D Map to 3D globe at will, which visualizes intensity based on the height and color of geo markers. Globe view is accessible for both Manual and Streaming modes.

To switch to globe mode:

  1. From an open workspace, on the right side of an open map widget, click the globe icon. The widget changes to display a three dimensional globe.

  2. Locate the Controls icon on the right side of the globe view. Enable Interactive Mode with this icon.

    • Left click and drag to rotate the globe manually.

    • Scroll the mouse wheel up to zoom in or down to zoom out.

      note

      Controls mode disables the globe's rotation animation.

  3. If Interactive Mode is enabled, at the right of the map widget, click the Play icon to return to globe view. Otherwise, proceed to step 4.

    note

    In interactive mode, hover over a cluster of events to view a pop up containing the count for that cluster.

  4. On the right side of a map widget in globe view, click the globe icon to return the map to a 2D space.

Count Geo Items Plotted​

The Interactive Map plots all available geo-coordinates, and it is possible to review this count.

To review the count of geo items plotted:

  1. From an open workspace, at the bottom left of an open map widget, locate the display of Geo items. The count displays # Geo Items.
  2. The count changes as geo items are plotted to the map. The count decreases as geo items are removed.