Methodology and sources

Origin registry

Plot, farmer, location, collection station and production-type records, captured by Hillkoff staff together with farmers in the field. Plot coordinates are taken with field positioning equipment.

Satellite heat detection

NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System), which publishes satellite thermal detections with a low, nominal or high confidence rating.

Base map

Map imagery from OpenStreetMap contributors, rendered with MapLibre. No proprietary mapping service is required.

The assessment runs per plot. A 250 metreradius is drawn around each plot's coordinates and checked for satellite thermal detections falling inside it during the assessment period. Each plot resolves to one of two states.

No detection within 250 m

No thermal detection appeared within 250 metres of that plot at any point in the assessed period.

Requires further review

A thermal detection appeared within 250 metres. This is a signal to investigate, not a finding that burning occurred on that plot.

Only the totals across both states are published. We do not disclose which plot or which farmer falls into which state, because that would name individuals on the basis of data that still needs checking.

A hotspot is not evidence of burning on a plot. Satellites detect heat at the surface, which may originate from neighbouring land, from other heat-producing activity, or from reflection under certain surface conditions. Interpretation requires field and weather context.

Spatial resolution is bounded. Each detection represents an area of tens to hundreds of metres, not a metre-accurate position. The 250 m radius is therefore a deliberately conservative frame that accepts false positives in preference to missed signals.

The period is bounded. The published summary covers only 2026-01-01 to 2026-07-30. No detection in this window does not mean no event ever occurred.

Map detail is capped. Detailed detections within the map viewport are limited to 2,000 points per request. When the cap is reached the site says so on screen, so the number is not mistaken for a total.

The origin registry is updated continuously as records are registered and approved for publication. Pages read the database on each request, so they reflect approval status at that moment rather than a cached copy.

The hotspot assessment summary is produced per period, as stated above. When a new assessment round is published, the period shown on the site changes with it.

The origin database page shows a reconciliation banner comparing the number of rows loaded against the approved total. If the two differ, the site says so, so an incomplete figure is not cited as if it were complete.

Every published field is defined in the data dictionary, and the scope of what is and is not published is set out in the data publication statement.