31 July 2026
How tunc creates live ground truth on a real map
Tunc is an Android camera app for fresh, location-bound captures. tunc.live is where published captures become points people can explore on a real map.
Why tunc exists
Social feeds are optimized for attention, not context. When an event is moving quickly, one image rarely tells the whole story. People need nearby points of view: the crowd at an entrance, the condition of a road, activity near a stage, or the quieter street a few blocks away.tunc separates the act of capturing from the act of exploring. The Android app creates a new capture in the moment. The public map at tunc.live places approved captures in their geographic context, so a viewer can move from a broad map view to an individual point of view.
How the tunc app works
tunc removes the usual account and gallery workflow. Rather than uploading an existing image, the app is made to capture directly from the camera, then bind its provenance to the submitted data.- Claim a name without a password: A user chooses a unique username. The Android device generates a cryptographic key pair in its hardware-backed security area, while the private key stays on that device.
- Wait for an accurate location: The capture flow waits for an accurate GPS lock before the shutter is available, helping associate the resulting capture with meaningful coordinates.
- Create a fresh camera capture: The app captures from the camera rather than accepting an image from the phone gallery. Capture time and location become part of the submission context.
- Sign and submit the capture: The device signs the capture payload using its device-bound key. The backend can check that signature against the corresponding public key.
- Review before public publication: Submitted captures are reviewed before they can be published to the public map. This creates a deliberate boundary between submitting a capture and making it visible to everyone.
How captures appear on tunc.live
tunc.live is a separate public website for viewing published captures. It loads recent public capture data and plots each valid latitude and longitude as a marker on a dark, interactive map. When capture points are available, the map frames the visible area around them.Select a marker to open the capture detail view. The viewer can inspect the image along with its coordinates and capture time, then return to the map to compare it with other nearby perspectives. This is what makes the system useful for live events, local awareness, and open-source research: the map provides context that a standalone image cannot.
What people can do with the live map
- Scan for activity: Start with the map to see where approved capture points are appearing and identify areas worth examining.
- Open the point of view behind a marker: Choose a marker to view its capture and the associated geographic and time context.
- Compare nearby perspectives: Several captures in the same area can give a clearer picture of an event than a single isolated post.
- Follow evidence, not an algorithm: The map is organized around place and published captures, helping viewers inspect the source material directly.