Methodology

Core turns satellite imagery and the world's policy and scientific literature into indicators. The methodology is versioned, the provenance is auditable, and every published value is traceable from its source materials to the number in a report.

From source to published value

An indicator is not a single number — it is the end of a chain. Core records each link: the source satellite scene or document page, the extraction method and model version used, the analytical steps applied, the publication decision, and the confidence policy that governed the result. Every value carries this chain forward.

Two source types, distinctly labelled

Spatial evidence comes from satellite imagery — building footprints, land cover, thermal data, and other earth-observation products. Textual evidence comes from policy documents, scientific literature, and reports. Core never blurs the two: each citation identifies whether it derives from a pixel or a page, and each source type is inspected on its own terms.

Versioned and reproducible

Methodology is not fixed — it improves. Core versions its methodology and treats each published indicator as tied to a specific methodology version and specific source revisions. When a method changes, the new version is a distinct, comparable publication. A value cited today can be reconstructed tomorrow because its sources and method are recorded immutably.

Verification

Before a factual claim reaches a user, a deterministic verifier checks that every cited value resolves to authorized evidence, that geography and time periods match, and that superseded or withdrawn sources are excluded. Claims without sufficient evidentiary support are removed or cause the answer to fail. The system does not present unverified model output as fact.

Provenance you can inspect

Every artifact — map, chart, table, cited page, report — exposes its evidence chain through Verify Mode. You can follow any value back to its source revision, compare methodology versions, and see exactly what changed and why. Provenance is a product surface, not a hidden log.

Confidence, stated honestly

Core does not collapse uncertainty into a single badge. Citation support, publication confidence, extraction reliability, provenance completeness, and methodology caveats are each recorded and displayed separately. The goal is not to reassure but to inform: you see what the evidence supports and where it is limited.