LabariMapMethodology and trust
How we decide a dot’s colour, size and freshness, and when we call it verified. The same fixed rules apply to every story, so every label can be explained.
Colour: impact on people, not tone
We first record the facts of what happened (type of event, place, time, whether it is ongoing, whether a road is blocked, injuries). Fixed rules then set the colour.
| Colour | Rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Bad | Harm to people, or the road or area is unsafe or blocked | Attack, kidnapping, crash with injuries, flooding over the road, fire |
| Caution | Disruption, delay or risk, but passable | Traffic, roadworks, protest, fuel queues, checkpoints, weather warning |
| Good | Something got safer or easier | Road reopened, bridge finished, curfew lifted |
| Neutral | Information with no immediate effect | Budgets, announcements, plans |
A story with a positive tone in a still-risky area stays Caution: for example, kidnap victims rescued while the threat remains.
Size: severity 1 to 5
| Size | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 5 | Deaths or an attack |
| 4 | Serious injuries, or a major road closed |
| 3 | Road blocked for hours |
| 2 | Significant delay |
| 1 | Minor delay or disruption |
Freshness
“Now” means reported or updated in the last 60 minutes and still ongoing. Dots fade with age and are archived at the end of their lifetime:
| Type | Lifetime |
|---|---|
| Security | 4 days |
| Crash | 12 hours |
| Traffic | 8 hours |
| Flooding | 3 days |
| Road closure | 2 days |
| Checkpoint | 24 hours |
| Roadworks | 7 days |
| Fuel | 2 days |
| Fire | 36 hours |
| Building or bridge collapse | 4 days |
| Protest | 24 hours |
| Weather warning | 2 days |
| Infrastructure | 7 days |
| Civic | 7 days |
Archived events are still shown when you pick a past date.
Verified or not
A dot is verified when two independent sources report it, when a trusted agency feed reports it, or when two people on the road confirm it. Until then it is shown hollow and marked unverified.
Corrections
If a colour, size, place or story looks wrong, tell us. Every correction is reviewed by an editor. Send a correction.