Reticulum Ski Patrol Network

Reticulum Ski Patrol Network is a tactical 3D globe app built for the Hackathon project by Patrick and Parker.

The app runs a Cesium-based globe with a ski-patrol themed interface, a live seismic feed, click-to-track entities, and an operational control panel. It also contains optional flight and traffic data pipelines that are currently disabled in the UI by default.

Current product focus

• Splash boot screen with keyboard or click to enter
• Tactical globe UI with shader modes (STANDARD, CRT, NVG, FLIR)
• Seismic layer (USGS) enabled by default
• Intel feed with clickable earthquake locations (camera jump)
• Ski patrol entity markers and lock-on panel
• Geolocation (Locate Me) with browser GPS first, IP fallback
• Map tile mode switch (GOOGLE 3D or OSM)

Tech stack

• Frontend: React 19, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS, CesiumJS (via Resium)
• Backend: Express 5 (serverless-friendly), node-cache, ws
• Deployment target: Vercel (api/index.js wraps server/index.js)

Local development

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (20+ recommended)
• npm 9+

Install

npm install

Environment variables

Create these files locally (do not commit secrets):

• .env
• server/.env

Client-side (.env):

VITE_GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_google_tiles_key
VITE_CESIUM_ION_TOKEN=your_cesium_ion_token_optional

Server-side (server/.env):

OPENSKY_CLIENT_ID=optional
OPENSKY_CLIENT_SECRET=optional
AISSTREAM_API_KEY=optional

Notes:

• VITE_GOOGLE_API_KEY is needed for Google 3D tiles; OSM still works without it.
• Geolocation fallback uses the backend /api/geolocation route.
• Ship and satellite data endpoints exist on the backend but are not currently wired into the UI.

Run

Use two terminals:

npm run dev:server
npm run dev

Or run both together:

npm run dev:all

App URL: http://localhost:5173

Build and preview

npm run build
npm run preview

Project structure

api/
  index.js                 # Vercel serverless entry
server/
  index.js                 # Express API routes and integrations
  data/sydneyRoads.js      # Traffic fallback road data
src/
  App.tsx                  # App composition and state
  components/
    globe/                 # Cesium viewer and entity click tracking
    layers/                # Active: earthquakes, flights, traffic, steamboat dots
    ui/                    # Splash, operations panel, intel feed, status UI
  hooks/                   # Data hooks (earthquakes, flights, traffic, geolocation)
  shaders/postprocess.ts   # CRT/NVG/FLIR post processing

API routes in server/index.js

Routes used by current frontend behavior:

• GET /api/geolocation
• GET /api/flights (only if flights layer is enabled in code)
• GET /api/flights/live (only if flights layer is enabled in code)
• GET /api/traffic/roads (only if traffic layer is enabled in code)

Additional routes currently available but not used by the active UI path:

• GET /api/earthquakes
• GET /api/satellites
• GET /api/ships
• GET /api/health
• WS /ws

Deployment (Vercel)

This repo already includes vercel.json with:

• Vite build output from dist
• Rewrite from /api/* to api/index.js
• Function settings for the serverless API wrapper

Set your environment variables in Vercel project settings for both build-time (VITE_*) and runtime (server vars).

Security

• .env and server/.env are gitignored.
• Do not commit API keys or tokens.

Credits

Built by Patrick and Parker.

Built With

• cursor
• google-maps
• java
• seismic
• vite