Explore & simulate

Beyond the live dashboards, the portal lets you explore the Karst in 3D and run guided fire-spread simulations.

The 3D Twin

An interactive, browser-based 3D model of the cross-border Karst built on real terrain. You can:

• Tilt, rotate and zoom across the landscape.
• Switch the base imagery, including a high-resolution cross-border orthophoto (Slovenian DOF025 + Italian FVG imagery) stitched into one seamless map.
• Turn on data layers — risk, weather stations, wildfire history and more — each with a short "what this layer shows" tooltip.
• Play back real fire-spread simulations: pick a published run from the map and watch the fire front advance over time, with the weather and a wind rose for that scenario.

The 3D twin is the most vivid way to understand the terrain that shapes how fire moves across the Karst. It needs a reasonably modern device with WebGL; on older hardware the imagery falls back gracefully.

The public simulator

The Simulator page introduces the fire-spread engine and lets approved users run their own scenarios. Running a live simulation is sign-up gated — it is an advanced operator service rather than an anonymous toy — but anyone can read how it works and request access (see 05 — Accounts, access & contact).

A simulation answers a "what-if": if a fire started here, under these conditions, where would it go and how fast? The engine advances a fire perimeter outward across the real terrain and fuels using the current or a chosen weather scenario. Operators use the same engine for nowcasts, scenarios and historical replays — documented in detail in the Operator guide → How to run a simulation.

The science

The Scientific details page explains the model in plain terms:

• The Karst Fire Weather Index (KFWI) — how the Canadian Fire Weather Index sub-codes (fine-fuel moisture FFMC, duff moisture DMC, drought DC, spread ISI, buildup BUI) combine into a daily danger rating, and how it is Karst-calibrated.
• Fire spread — the wavefront (Huygens) approach and the Canadian Fire Behaviour Prediction (FBP) surface-spread model behind the simulator.
• Earth observation — how satellite greenness (NDVI, from Copernicus Sentinel-2) feeds the fuel picture.

Every technical term is linked to the glossary with a hover/tap definition.