I built a real-time OSINT dashboard pulling 15 live global feeds

Sup HN,So I got tired of bouncing between Flightradar, MarineTraffic, and Twitter every time something kicked off globally, so I wrote a dashboard to aggregate it all locally. It’s called Shadowbroker.I’ll admit I leaned way too hard into the "movie hacker" aesthetic for the UI, but the actual pipeline underneath is real. It pulls commercial/military ADS-B, the AIS WebSocket stream (about 25,000+ ships), N2YO satellite telemetry, and GDELT conflict data into a single MapLibre instance.Getting this to run without melting my browser was the hardest part. I'm running this on a laptop with an i5 and an RTX 3050, and initially, dumping 30k+ moving GeoJSON features onto the map just crashed everything. I ended up having to write pretty aggressive viewport culling, debounce the state updates, and compress the FastAPI payloads by like 90% just to make it usable.My favorite part is the signal layer—it actually calculates live GPS jamming zones by aggregating the real-time navigation degradation (NAC-P) of commercial flights overhead.It’s Next.js and Python. I threw a quick-start script in the releases if you just want to spin it up, but the repo is open if you want to dig into the backend.Let me know if my MapLibre implementation is terrible, I'm always looking for ways to optimize the rendering.

Hacker NewsMar 8ToolAISource

FL score

out of 100

Verdict

BUILD

high confidence

Competition

competitors found, emerging market, funded players

Trend

4 community mentions

A real-time, locally deployed OSINT dashboard for independent analysts, offering high performance and unique features like GPS jamming detection, as a cost-effective alternative to expensive enterprise tools.

The pain

Independent OSINT analysts and small teams are frustrated by the need to manually aggregate real-time data from disparate sources (Flightradar, MarineTraffic, Twitter, etc.), wasting time and missing critical insights. Existing enterprise solutions are too expensive, complex, and lack transparent pricing.

The gap

There's a significant gap for a performant, affordable, and customizable real-time OSINT dashboard that aggregates diverse global feeds locally. Most current solutions are high-cost, enterprise-grade, or lack the specific real-time optimization and niche features (like GPS jamming detection) needed by solo builders or small teams.

Build angle

Focus on a hosted version with premium features (e.g., additional data feeds, enhanced analytics), or a tiered subscription model for managed deployments. Continue optimizing for performance and add AI/ML capabilities for threat prediction or anomaly detection. Target independent journalists, geopolitical analysts, and security hobbyists who can't afford Palantir-level tools.

Strengths

Problem is highly specific and severe for target users.
Solution is already built and proven performant on commodity hardware.
Unique GPS jamming detection feature is a strong differentiator.
Addresses major user frustrations of high cost, complexity, and non-transparent pricing of incumbents.
High market growth potential for OSINT solutions.

Risks

Monetizing an open-source project can be challenging.
Market is crowded with well-funded competitors; direct competition on features may be difficult without a clear niche.
Data licensing costs for some commercial feeds might impact profitability.
Maintaining and updating diverse real-time global feeds requires ongoing effort and reliability.

Next steps

Conduct user interviews with independent OSINT analysts and journalists to validate willingness to pay for a hosted/premium version and identify their most desired paid features.
Explore potential business models: freemium with core open-source, paid hosted service, premium data feeds, or API access.
Investigate data licensing costs for commercial feeds to ensure a viable pricing model.
Build a landing page to capture interest and gauge demand for a commercial offering, detailing pricing tiers and premium features.

Fly Labs Method

Is the pain real, is there a gap, is it the right time, can one person build it.

Problem clarity: 26
Solution gap: 20
Willingness to pay: 19
Buildability: 13

This idea solves a very real and specific pain for a niche audience with an already-built, performant solution. The market is competitive but the local, customizable, open-source approach carves out a defensible niche, especially with its unique features.

Value Equation

Dream outcome and how likely it feels, against the time and effort it costs.

This idea has strong market viability with high value, excellent market timing, and a unique differentiator, making it highly attractive from a profit perspective, assuming a clear monetization path for the open-source base.

One-Person Business

Curiosity pull, identity fit, and a path from free value to paid for a solo creator.

This idea demonstrates excellent problem and creator fit, with a clear, specific niche and high potential for building a focused community around its unique features, though monetization needs to be formalized.

Viral Frameworks

Hook strength, shareability, and how cheaply it can be tested.

This micro-SaaS has a clear target audience, strong value proposition, and established distribution channels for an open-source product. The key challenge will be defining and validating a sustainable business model to monetize the existing solution.

Builder Lens

Evidence the problem exists, timing, defensibility, and a model that fits on a napkin.

Shadowbroker solves a critical, growing problem for a specific user with a functional product that demonstrates strong insights and a clear path to initial adoption, positioning it well for future relevance.

Why this verdict

Shadowbroker is an impressively built solution to a real and urgent problem within a growing market. The builder's deep expertise and the existing product reduce 'buildability' risk significantly. However, the market is crowded with powerful, funded competitors. While the 'local-first' and 'movie hacker' aesthetic provide a unique angle, and the GPS jamming feature is compelling, the path to monetizing an open-source project in a competitive space requires careful validation. The product needs to establish a clear value proposition for a paying customer, not just an open-source adopter. Therefore, further validation of specific monetization angles and target customer segments is crucial before committing to a full-scale commercial build, despite the strong overall scores.

Five lenses, one composite. How scoring works

The angle

This weekend

Conduct user interviews with independent OSINT analysts and journalists to validate willingness to pay for a hosted/premium version and identify their most desired paid features.
Explore potential business models: freemium with core open-source, paid hosted service, premium data feeds, or API access.
Investigate data licensing costs for commercial feeds to ensure a viable pricing model.
Build a landing page to capture interest and gauge demand for a commercial offering, detailing pricing tiers and premium features.

Who is already there, emerging market

Palantir GothamFundedVisit
An AI-enabled data solution for global defense, international intelligence, and law enforcement organizations that integrates and analyzes near-real-time data.
Pricing: Starts from $68.00/month. Perpetual software licenses may be priced by CPU core, with Palantir Gotham at $141K per core. Pilot software licenses are priced on a term basis, and organization licenses are priced per annum. Usage-based pricing and various support levels are also available.
DataminrFundedVisit
An incident detection solution that helps businesses analyze and mitigate high-impact global events and risks using AI technology to process multi-format data.
Pricing: Not publicly disclosed. One user subscription for Dataminr First Alert is $30,000.00 for a 12-month contract.
MeltwaterFundedVisit
A media intelligence and social listening platform that tracks brand mentions across news and social media.
Pricing: Not publicly disclosed; custom pricing based on goals, modules, and scale. Basic 1-user subscriptions start around $7,000 per year, with average subscriptions between $15,000-$20,000/year, and enterprise plans over $40,000/year. Annual contracts are standard.
WindwardFundedVisit
Provides a maritime AI platform for risk management, combining AI with maritime expertise.
Pricing: Windward Core Flex is $605.00 (On Premise), Windward Core Pro is $547.00 (On Premise), Windward Hub Standard is $19.00 (Cloud), Windward Hub Premium is $49.00 (Cloud), and Windward Hub Enterprise offers custom pricing (Cloud). Annual payments receive a 15% discount, and quarterly payments a 10% discount for Windward Core. Custom quotes are provided based on business needs.
SaildroneFundedVisit
Deploys unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for ocean data collection, maritime domain awareness, and national security efforts.
Pricing: Saildrones cost ~$2,500/day for data collection on a mission-as-a-service basis, with multi-year subscriptions available for defense customers. A 3% discount is offered on orders of 10+ USVs for 90 Mission Days or more.
Hunt IntelligenceVisit
A social media search tool specializing in location-based data from social media posts for corporate security, public safety, media, journalism, and marketing teams.
Pricing: Not publicly disclosed. Requires contact for pricing.

Funded players

What they charge

The pricing landscape for OSINT dashboards and intelligence platforms varies significantly, often characterized by non-transparent, custom quotes, especially for enterprise-level solutions. Many established players like Palantir, Dataminr, and Meltwater do not publicly disclose their pricing, requiring direct engagement with sales teams. However, available data suggests high costs, with enterprise plans ranging from tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand dollars annually. Some solutions offer per-core licensing (Palantir Gotham at $141K per core) or per-day operational costs for specialized services (Saildrone at ~$2,500/day). There are also cloud-based options with more structured, albeit still custom, pricing (e.g., Windward Hub Standard at $19/month). Free tiers are rare, but some alternatives to expensive platforms may offer more budget-friendly options, with some starting around $49/month for basic functionalities. Annual contracts are common, with minimum lengths of 12 months.

What people say, 4 mentions

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