Data Feeds — TAK Can

Architecture

flowchart LR
  subgraph SRC["Sources"]
    direction TB
    F["511 ON · QC · DriveBC · AB
Alert Ready · NRCAN · ADSB.lol"]
    WX["ECCC GeoMet · RainViewer
OpenWeather"]
    CAM["511 cameras · ON/AB/BC/QC"]
  end
  F -->|"HTTPS · GeoJSON / Open511
Atom+GeoRSS · WFS · JSON"| FM["FeedManager
poll · filter"]
  FM --> CD["Core Data"] --> MAP["MapView
CoT pins"]
  FM --> PN["Push Notification
new incidents"]
  WX -->|"MKTileOverlay XYZ"| WM["WeatherMgr
tile cache · 10 min TTL"] --> MAPT["MapView
tile overlay"]
  CAM -->|"HTTPS / JSON"| CM["CameraManager
per-province cache"] --> MAPC["MapView
camera pins"]
  CM --> CV["CameraViewerSheet
still / video"]

🟢 Free — included in all versions
511 road incidents (ON, QC, BC, AB), Alert Ready emergency alerts, active wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, and severe weather alerts. No account, no API key, no subscription.

⚡ Live Data — subscription required
ADS-B aircraft tracking, AIS vessel tracking, weather radar overlays, and highway traffic cameras. Requires an active Live Data monthly or yearly subscription.

Feed Sources

Feed	Tier	API	Format	Data	Via server feed?
Ontario 511	Free	`511on.ca/api/v2`	JSON	Road incidents, closures, construction	✅ as CoT
Quebec 511	Free	`transports.gouv.qc.ca`	GeoJSON (WFS)	Road incidents	✅ as CoT
British Columbia	Free	`api.open511.gov.bc.ca`	Open511 JSON	Road incidents with full event details	✅ as CoT
Alberta 511	Free	`511.alberta.ca/api/v2`	JSON	Road incidents	✅ as CoT
Alert Ready	Free	`rss.naad-adna.pelmorex.com`	Atom + GeoRSS	Amber alerts, severe weather, wildfires, evacuations, earthquake EEW	✅ as CoT
Active Wildfires	Free	`cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca`	GeoJSON (WFS)	Canadian wildfire hotspots	✅ as CoT
ADS-B Aircraft	Live Data	`api.adsb.lol`	JSON	Live aircraft positions, registration, type, operator, route	✅ as CoT
AIS Vessels	Live Data	`aisstream.io`	WebSocket	Live ship positions worldwide, name, MMSI, heading, speed, destination	✅ as CoT
Weather Radar (ECCC)	Live Data	`geo.weather.gc.ca/geomet`	XYZ tiles (WMS)	Radar precipitation, snow, satellite	⚠️ tile proxy
Weather Radar (RainViewer)	Live Data	`api.rainviewer.com`	XYZ tiles	Global radar precipitation	⚠️ tile proxy
Weather Radar (OpenWeatherMap)	Live Data	`tile.openweathermap.org`	XYZ tiles	Precipitation, wind, temp, pressure	⚠️ tile proxy
Traffic Cameras (ON)	Live Data	`511on.ca`	JSON + JPEG/video	Highway cameras with still image and video playback	⚠️ relay
Traffic Cameras (AB)	Live Data	`511.alberta.ca`	JSON + JPEG/video	Highway cameras	⚠️ relay
Traffic Cameras (BC)	Live Data	`api.open511.gov.bc.ca`	Open511 JSON	Highway cameras	⚠️ relay
Traffic Cameras (QC)	Live Data	`Quebec 511 API`	JSON + JPEG/video	Highway cameras with multi-angle support	⚠️ relay

Via server feed? Whether a TAK server can deliver this feed to the client instead of every device polling the source. ✅ as CoT — point/vector feeds a server can poll once and inject to the whole team as Cursor-on-Target. ⚠️ tile proxy / relay — raster and imagery feeds (radar, cameras) aren't CoT; a server can still serve them via a tile cache or stream relay. A per-feed Device/Server source selector is planned — see issue #377.

✈️ ADS-B Aircraft Tracking Live Data

Live aircraft positions are fetched from ADSB.lol at a configurable interval (default 10 seconds). Each aircraft appears as a CoT marker on the map with a directional icon that rotates with heading.

Flight Enrichment

For each aircraft, two additional lookups run concurrently:

Basic info (/v2/hex/{icao24}) — registration, ICAO type code, model description, and operator/airline name
Route info (/api/0/route/{callsign}) — origin and destination IATA codes, airport names, and coordinates

Results are cached for the lifetime of the app session. Tap an aircraft to see the "Flight Info" card in the detail sheet.

🚢 AIS Vessel Tracking Live Data

Live ship positions are streamed from AISStream.io via WebSocket. Requires an active Live Data subscription. Vessels appear as CoT markers on the map with a ship icon that rotates with heading.

Worldwide coverage — the bounding box follows your map view. Pan anywhere in the world to see ships in that area.
Vessel watchlist — star ★ any vessel to track it globally regardless of your map position (up to 50 MMSIs).
Search by name or MMSI — find any vessel that's appeared on screen and add it to your watchlist.
Aircraft & Vessel list — searchable, filterable list in Map Filter with last-updated timestamps.
Two modes — direct WebSocket (built-in, just an API key) or poll a vessel-monitor Docker service for server-side caching.

🔑 Subscriptions & API Keys

Free feeds require no account or API key. Live Data feeds are unlocked by a Live Data subscription — no per-feed API key setup required.

Feature	Tier	Access
511 Road Incidents	Free	No account needed
Alert Ready	Free	No account needed
Active Wildfires	Free	No account needed
ADS-B Aircraft	Live Data	Live Data subscription
AIS Vessel Tracking	Live Data	Live Data subscription
Weather Radar (all backends)	Live Data	Live Data subscription
Traffic Cameras (all provinces)	Live Data	Live Data subscription

Map Overlays on Selection

Heading projection — cyan dashed line showing predicted position at 15-minute intervals for the next 2 hours based on current speed and heading
Route arc — faint geodesic great-circle arc between origin and destination airports when route data is available
Pinnable routes — pin button keeps both overlays visible after deselecting the aircraft

Map Filters

Altitude range (min/max, respects user altitude unit preference)
Per-type toggles: fixed-wing, helicopter, UAV, glider, balloon

🌧️ Weather Radar Overlay Live Data

Precipitation tiles are fetched as a standard MKTileOverlay and composited directly on the map. Tiles are cached in memory for 10 minutes to avoid redundant network requests.

Backends

Backend	Key Required	Available Layers
ECCC GeoMet	None	Radar precipitation, snow, satellite (GOES), surface analysis
RainViewer	None	Global radar precipitation (infrared)
OpenWeatherMap	Optional (free tier)	Precipitation, wind speed, temperature, pressure

Backend and layer are selected in the Overlay Manager. Opacity is adjustable. Radar can be toggled independently of other overlays.

📷 Traffic Cameras Live Data

Highway camera locations are loaded from provincial 511 APIs and rendered as green pins on the map. Tap any pin to open the camera viewer.

Camera Viewer

Still image mode — JPEG snapshot with manual refresh
Video mode — native AVPlayer video stream where available
Multi-angle cameras — segmented picker shows all available directions (Ontario Views[], Quebec cameras grouped by ID)

Province Coverage

Province	Source	Notes
Ontario	511on.ca	Multi-direction via `Views[]`
Alberta	511.alberta.ca	JPEG still + video URL
British Columbia	api.open511.gov.bc.ca	Open511 format
Quebec	Quebec 511	GetImage.ashx (JPEG) + camera.ashx?format=mp4 (video); grouped by NumeroCamera

CoT Type Mapping

Each feed incident is converted to a CoT marker with an appropriate type and icon:

Incident Type	CoT Type	Icon
Road Closure	`b-r-.-o-c`	xmark.octagon.fill 🛑
Construction	`b-r-.-o-w`	cone.fill 🔶
Accident/Incident	`b-r-.-o-a`	exclamationmark.triangle.fill ⚠️
Weather Hazard	`b-r-.-o-h`	cloud.bolt.fill ⛈️
Wildfire	`b-n-.-f`	flame.fill 🔥

Example: Ontario 511 Response → CoT Marker

API Response (simplified)

{
  "ID": 86216,
  "RoadwayName": "HWY 17",
  "DirectionOfTravel": "Eastbound",
  "Description": "Daily Construction on HWY 17 Eastbound...",
  "EventType": "CONSTRUCTION",
  "Severity": "Moderate",
  "Latitude": 48.79229,
  "Longitude": -87.38264,
  "LastUpdated": 1757532060
}

Resulting CoT Marker

COTData {
  cotUid:    "511on-86216"
  callsign:  "HWY 17 Eastbound"
  cotType:   "b-r-.-o-w"        // construction
  latitude:  48.79229
  longitude: -87.38264
  icon:      "cone.fill"
  remarks:   "Daily Construction on HWY 17 Eastbound..."
  staleDate: 2026-09-15T00:00:00Z  // PlannedEndDate
}

Example: Alert Ready Entry

NAAD Atom Feed Entry (simplified)

<entry>
  <title>yellow advisory - fog - in effect</title>
  <author><name>Environment Canada</name></author>
  <georss:polygon>53.03 -115.15 53.01 -115.17 ... 53.03 -115.15</georss:polygon>
  <category term="severity=Moderate"/>
  <category term="event=fog"/>
  <category term="status=Actual"/>
  <category term="language=en-CA"/>
  <summary>Patchy fog has developed... near zero visibilities...</summary>
</entry>

Processing

Parse Atom XML with GeoRSS polygon coordinates
Compute centroid of polygon for marker placement
Map event type ("fog") → CoT type (b-w-.-a) and icon (cloud.fog.fill)
Filter by proximity to user location (configurable radius)
Send local push notification if new

Proximity Filtering

For each incident:
  1. Calculate distance from user's GPS location
  2. If distance ≤ configured alert radius → include
  3. If active navigation route exists:
     Sample every 10th route coordinate
     If any sample ≤ alert radius from incident → include
  4. If user location unknown → exclude all (no flooding)

Reliability

Retry on failure: Each API call retries up to 3 times with 5-second delay
First-poll suppression: No notifications on first poll (seeds known IDs silently)
Restart-safe: Known incident IDs loaded from Core Data on init — no re-notification after app restart
Thread-safe: Known IDs protected with NSLock

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