Founders launch · Fall 2026

Be your community’s S2.

Know what is happening in your county before it reaches your street — local news, civic meetings, demonstrations, hazards and a live map, for all 3,143 US counties.

Fig. 1Counties covered

3,143

counties, parishes, boroughs and census areas

One dot per county, plotted from the Census Bureau’s own interior points. Every one gets the map, the federal layers, the address report and the voting data — not a shortlist of metros. Hand-researched local news sources are live for the largest 200 and are being extended.

Fig. 2The Live tab — county map, camera selected

Williamson CountyTXDATA AS OF 28 SEP 2026⟳ REFRESH

CountyNeighborhoodNewsCivic & EventsArea Study BuilderSavedLive

+−

CCTV 18BOUNDARYEVENTSASSETS

COUNTY FENCE · ACTIVE

A rendering of the Live tab, not a captured screenshot — the map itself is a 3D globe and the camera stills come from the state DOT feed, live, where the state publishes one.

Four jobs, done properly.

01County

Your county, every morning

One screen for the place you live: what moved overnight, what is on the civic calendar, what the weather and drought are doing, and where the population is going.

Local wire, matched and de-noised
Civic meetings and demonstrations
Drought, weather, population
Registration deadlines and elections

02Live

A map fenced to your ground

A 3D county map that will not let you wander into the next state. Your county boundary is the edge of the world, with the layers that matter drawn on top of it.

Boundary as a hard fence
State traffic cameras where published
Event and infrastructure layers
Runs on a laptop

03Neighborhood

Your address, assessed

The same treatment for one point on the map: what it is exposed to, who responds, how far away they are, and what has already happened there.

FEMA hazard rating, band by band
Flood zone and claim history
Response inside five miles
Schools, crime, vulnerability

04Area Study Builder

The method, not just the data

Forward Observer's area study, assembled from your county's own record instead of a blank page. Under active development — it is on the tab bar so you can see where this goes.

Structured area study
Built from the county record
After founders launch

Built on the public record.

US Census Bureau: population, tracts, geocoding
FEMA: National Risk Index, flood maps, declarations
National Weather Service: conditions, forecast, alerts
US Drought Monitor: drought severity
CMS: hospital and emergency department status
EPA ECHO: regulated facilities, Superfund
FBI NIBRS: reported crime
USGS: seismic, elevation, dams
TurboVote: elections, deadlines, polling places
State DOT: traffic camera feeds

Fetched live from the agencies that publish it. When a source does not answer, the page says so rather than printing a zero. Assembled by Forward Observer, doing this work at the national level since 2014.

One county. Twenty-nine dollars.

S2-Standard

$249per year

Billed once a year. Monthly plans come later.

Your county, fully covered, from the day you sign in.

Your county workspace, updated daily
Local news wire, matched and de-noised
Civic calendar and demonstrations
Elections, deadlines and polling places
Address-level readiness report
The live county map

Get first access

S2Pro

Coming soon

More than one area of operations, exports, and the Area Study Builder.

Special Projects

Coming soon

Team seats, counties researched to request, bespoke layers and sources.

Questions.

01What is an S2?: The S-2 is the staff intelligence officer — the one who tells the commander what is happening outside the wire. Every unit has one. Your county does not.
02Does it cover my county?: All 3,143 counties, parishes, boroughs and census areas get the map, the federal layers, the address report and the voting data. Hand-researched local news sources are live for the largest 200 counties and are being extended.
03Where does the data come from?: Public record, fetched live from the agencies that publish it. When a source does not answer, the page says so rather than printing a zero.
04Is my address private?: Your area of operations and your address are yours. They build your report and are never shown to another member, sold, or handed to an advertiser.
05What does it cost?: S2-Standard is $249 a year. S2Pro and Special Projects are coming later, and this list hears first.
06Who is behind it?: Forward Observer, doing this work at the national level since 2014. Community S2 is the same discipline pointed at one county: yours.