Home/3D Terrain Twin

The Karst in three dimensions

A 3D digital twin of the cross-border Karst — terrain, orthophoto, firebreaks and weather stations, with burn-zone playback for simulated and historical fires.

Cesium · terrain + orthophoto

Live now across the cross-border Karst AOI (Italy–Slovenia). The KFWI is today’s daily index; temperature, humidity, wind and rain are the current average across the ARSO · ARPA FVG · ARPA Veneto station network.

No borders

Two nations, one territory: before a changing climate, the Karst knows no borders.

Fire doesn’t stop at the border. Nor do the drought, storms, floods and new fragilities a changing climate brings.

Between Italy and Slovenia, the Karst is a single living landscape: nature, communities, memory, infrastructure and a shared future. Protecting it means moving beyond administrative lines and building a common vision — one able to unite institutions, science, first responders, businesses and citizens.

This cross-border digital twin is built as a tool of cooperation and shared responsibility: a common platform to read the territory, anticipate risks, coordinate responses and strengthen the resilience of communities on both sides of the border.

Because in the face of the climate challenge there are no peripheries and no borders: there is a single Karst to safeguard, together, for the good of the people, the heritage and the nature that unites us.

Imagery

Layers

FWI0→40+

Fire-spread simulations

Operational layers

Dry-stone walls🔒
Run a new simulation🔒
Intervention planning🔒
This feature is available to registered users.Request access →
Live, read-only 3D twin — terrain + Sentinel-2 imagery with the live KFWI risk, weather stations and historical fires. Operational layers, simulation playback and intervention planning are available to registered users in the operational platform.
Guided tutorial

How to use the 3D twin

New here? These steps cover moving the camera, the layer toolbar (top-right) and loading a fire to play its spread back across the real terrain.

Move around the terrain

Left-drag to glide across the terrain and scroll to zoom. To rotate and tilt the view — looking across ridges and valleys from any angle — hold the middle mouse button (the scroll wheel) and move, or hold Ctrl while left-dragging. On a trackpad, two-finger drag tilts. Press H any time to fly home to the full AOI.

Switch 2D · 3D · Sim

Use the segmented control top-left to move between the flat risk map, the 3D terrain, and simulation mode — the geography and layers stay in sync across all three.

Toggle layers

Open the layer panel (top-right, or press L) to show weather stations, the Karst FWI grid, firebreaks, dry-stone walls, railways and burn zones. Hover a station for live readings.

Load a fire & play it back

From the run drawer, load a simulated or historical fire to see burn zones, smoke and arrival-time spread animate across the real terrain — then scrub the timeline.

Read the relief

Switch to high-resolution terrain/slope mode to understand how ridges, valleys and the exposed limestone shape fire behaviour and access for crews.

Share & export

Capture a PNG or PDF of the current view, or copy a share link that reopens the exact camera and layers — handy for briefings across the border.

Layer reference

What each layer shows

Every layer is scoped to the same cross-border analysis area (AOI) — the Italy–Slovenia Karst. Toggle them in the panel on the map.

Historical fires

Recorded wildfire ignition points across the AOI, 1995–2026: 1,492 fires — 727 in Italy, 765 in Slovenia. Reconciled from the Italian (A.R.D.I. / FVG) and Slovenian (ZGS) registries with Copernicus/EFFIS burned-area products.

Agencies & services

Fire brigades, civil-protection and forestry operational sites on both sides of the border — who would respond, and from where.

Air-quality stations

AirQino low-cost sensors around Duino-Aurisina measuring PM2.5, PM10, NO₂ and O₃ — updated live.

Weather stations

The cross-border observation network behind the index — ARSO (Slovenia) and ARPA FVG / ARPA Veneto (Italy) — with current temperature, wind, humidity and rainfall.

Karst FWI risk

Today’s daily Karst Fire Weather Index across the AOI grid (KFWI = ignition probability × FWI severity), coloured from 0 to 40+.

AOI boundary

The cross-border analysis area itself — the dashed outline that every layer, station and simulation on this page shares.

Firebreaks & roads

Firebreak lines and the road network across the cross-border Karst — the infrastructure that both starts fires (roadsides) and helps stop them (firebreaks).

Conservation (Natura 2000)

Natura 2000 protected areas (SCI / SPA) across the AOI — the EU conservation network that shapes what prevention is permitted, and where.

LiDAR relief

A LiDAR-derived hillshade of the Karst terrain, draped over the map to read ridges, dolinas and slope — where fire behaviour and crew access are decided. The same high-resolution relief used in the operational maps; selecting it also brings in firebreaks & roads.

Keyboard & mouse

Mid-drag Rotate & tilt the view Scroll Zoom in / out H Fly home L Toggle layer panel 2 2D map 3 3D terrain Play / pause replay

What the layers mean

Weather station Karst FWI grid Firebreak Dry-stone wall Railway Burn zone