Global Nature Watch (GNW) Horizon · concept · workflow sketch

Create your own map

Set up your own version of the Horizon map, then put it on your organisation's own website. There are two ways to set it up, so step 3 and the finished map are drawn twice — once for each way.

The orange notes are things to think about as you review each section. The survey you will complete after reviewing asks related questions.

STEP 1 OF 5

Shared organisation account maps@riverbasin-trust.org

Use one account for the whole organisation, not a personal one, so your map keeps working if the person who set it up moves on.

STEP 2 OF 5

Choose your path

This is a real choice, not a setting you can flip later. It decides what your map can do, and what it costs you to keep running.

Map and metrics only, no AI

Best if you don't pay for an AI service and don't have anyone to look after one.

What you need

Nothing. No subscription, no bills, nothing to look after.

What people see

Analysis options for them to choose from. No chat-based AI functionality. A chart, a table, and a plain-language answer built from the numbers.

Data you can add

Vector data (shapes) used in answers, and shown on the map

Picked in this example

Bring your own paid AI

Best if you already pay for an AI service and can keep paying for it.

What you need

Your own paid AI account (e.g., OpenAI or Anthropic), for as long as your map is online.

Someone to keep an eye on the account and the bill.

What people see

People can ask anything, in their own words. A chart, a table, and an answer written by the AI provider you have a paid account with.

Data you can add

Vector data (shapes) used in answers, and shown on the map

Raster data (images) shown on the map only

Or pick this one

Which option would you pick, and why?

Step 3 looks different depending on your choice

Map and metrics only, no AI

Bring your own paid AI

STEP 3 · MAP AND METRICS ONLY, NO AI

Pick your data

Data from Global Nature Watch

Tree cover loss

Protected areas

Land cover

Key biodiversity areas

Add your own data Vector only

https://your-geonode.org/geoserver/wfs?typeName=concession_boundaries

You paste a web link to data you already keep somewhere else. There's nothing to upload, at any step.

Analyses people can run

See what overlaps an area

Add up what's inside an area

Compare two dates

Look at what's nearby

Whatever you check becomes the list on your finished map. People pick from it, and never have to type a question.

STEP 3 · WITH YOUR OWN AI

Pick your data

Data from Global Nature Watch

Tree cover loss

Protected areas

Land cover

Key biodiversity areas

Add your own data Vector only

https://your-geonode.org/geoserver/wfs?typeName=concession_boundaries

You paste a web link to data you already keep somewhere else. There's nothing to upload, at any step.

Analyses people can run

See what overlaps an area

Add up what's inside an area

Compare two dates

Look at what's nearby

Whatever you check becomes the list on your finished map. People can also ask their own questions in their own words.

Only on this path

Add raster data Images and pixel-based data. This shows on the map as a backdrop. People can look at it, but they can't ask questions about it, and it's never part of an answer.

https://your-geonode.org/geoserver/wcs?coverageId=drone_survey_2025

You can add this because your own AI can describe what it sees. It's still only a backdrop — no numbers come from it.

For the raster data option: Is this something you would use? Would adding raster data only for visualization (no analysis) be valuable to you?

STEP 4 OF 5 · BOTH PATHS

Put it online

Download the files Download the files and upload them to a web hosting service of your choice

maps.riverbasin-trust.org your own web address

Once it's published, GNW isn't hosting anything. The map sits on your organisation's own website.

Does downloading the files and putting them online yourself feel approachable? Who at your organisation would do this step, and would anything here stop you?

STEP 5 OF 5 · BOTH PATHS

Published

Our data stays up to date Global Nature Watch data refreshes on its own via the analytics API, everywhere it appears on your site.

Your own data doesn't Anything you added is only as up to date as you keep it.

What you end up with · one for each way

A public map on your own web address. The clearest difference between the two is what the left-hand panel does.

map and metrics only · no AI involved

River Basin Trust Water and forests POWERED BY GNW

RESULTS · WORKED OUT, NOT WRITTEN BY AI

ANALYSES ON THIS MAP

See what overlaps an area

Add up what's inside an area

Compare two dates

Look at what's nearby

4 of 18 concessions overlap high tree cover loss

1,240 ha total overlapping area

310 ha of that overlap sits inside a protected area

WORKED OUT FROM

Your concessions Tree cover loss · GNW Protected areas · GNW

Download these numbers

+ −

20 km

CHART AND TABLE

Tree cover loss in your concessions

Chart Table

6004002000

201320192025

WHAT'S ON THE MAP

Tree cover loss · GNW

Your concessions

Does this feel like a useful output to you without the chat function and ability to more flexibly query data?

With your own AI · plus background raster data

River Basin Trust Water and forests POWERED BY GNW

ASK A QUESTION

Which of your concessions overlap high tree cover loss?

4 of your 18 concessions overlap areas with more than 20% tree cover loss since 2020 — mostly along the eastern ridge, where loss has accelerated since 2022.

Your concessions Tree cover loss · GNW

Ask a follow-up question…

Answered using your organisation's own paid AI account.

BACKGROUND DATA · NOT IN ANSWERS

USED IN ANSWERS

Tree cover loss · GNW Your concessions

BACKGROUND ONLY · NOT IN ANSWERS

Your drone photos Just a backdrop. You can't ask questions about it.

+ −

20 km

CHART AND TABLE

Tree cover loss in your concessions

Chart Table

6004002000

201320192025

WHAT THIS CHART COUNTS

Only your concessions and GNW's tree cover loss data. The background data isn't counted.

What it doesn't do · either way

It isn't a map-making tool. There's nothing here for changing colours, fading layers or editing them. Keep doing that in whatever you already use.

You never upload a file. You paste a link to data you already keep somewhere else. GNW never holds a copy of it.

Raster data is never used in answers. Either way. It's a backdrop on the map, and is left out of every calculation.

GNW doesn't host your map. Once published, it lives at your own web address, on your organisation's own website.

Your own AI means your own AI. We don't supply one. Without your own paid AI account, the map-and-metrics-only version is your option.

Nothing runs in the background for you. We don't set up a service for your organisation, and nobody at GNW looks after your published map.

No accuracy guarantee. GNW hasn't checked the data you add, so we can't promise the answers built on it are right.

What is your overall reaction to this concept? What questions do you have?