God's Eye View: An Open-Source Project That Shows Flights, Satellites, and CCTV Cameras on One Globe

There is a surprising amount of publicly available data being broadcast around the world at any given moment: aircraft transmit their positions via radio, ships send AIS signals, NASA publishes orbital data openly, and municipalities stream traffic cameras to the internet. God's Eye View is an open-source project that pulls all of these scattered sources together onto a single interactive 3D globe.

It is MIT-licensed, completely free, and can be set up in two commands. None of the free data layers require you to sign up for anything.

How the Interface Works

When you run the project, you are greeted by a category menu on the left side of the screen. The centre displays the 3D globe, and the right panel shows details for whichever category you have selected. A search bar at the bottom lets you jump to any location quickly.

The main categories in the menu include:

Live Flights – Real-time aircraft positions
Military Flights – Military air traffic where trackable
Satellites – Live orbital positions of satellites
Earthquakes – Real-time seismic data
Live Traffic & CCTV Cameras – Publicly accessible municipal security camera feeds
Radios – Live radio stations from around the world

Live Flights and the Cockpit View

Activating the live flights layer shows over 6,600 aircraft in the air at once. Clicking on any plane locks the camera to it. Pressing the C key switches to a cockpit perspective, displaying the aircraft's speed, altitude, and the real terrain passing below — all powered by publicly broadcast ADS-B data.

Satellite Tracking

When you zoom far enough out from the globe, you can see the ring of satellites orbiting Earth. Clicking on any individual satellite draws its orbital path across the map. The data comes from NASA and other open sources.

CCTV Cameras and Traffic Estimation

Enabling the CCTV layer places markers on the map for publicly accessible security cameras shared by city authorities. Each camera refreshes with a new image every 10 seconds. In a dense city like London, turning on both the CCTV layer and the Street Traffic layer together generates a live traffic density map derived from the combined camera feeds.

World Radios

Perhaps the most unexpected feature: activating the radio layer and navigating to a city — Tokyo, for example — reveals the active radio stations in that area. Clicking one plays the stream directly in the browser. You can travel across the globe not just visually, but by sound.

Who Is It Useful For?

The project has practical value for several audiences:

OSINT researchers looking for a unified data aggregation tool
Developers who want to explore open geographic data sources in one interface
Product builders who want a ready-made skeleton to extend and commercialise
Or anyone who simply enjoys watching the world move in real time

Getting Started

The project is published on GitHub at github.com/bilawalsidhu/gods-eye-view. It runs in two commands and the MIT licence means it can be used freely in personal or commercial projects.

At the very least, you can sit back and listen to a radio station from the other side of the world.