Version 2.0 · 2025
Ikeverse White Paper
1. Overview
The Ikeverse began as a question: what if we could see, at once, the connections between all the world's civilizational knowledge traditions? Not as a database, but as a living graph — rotating in real time, zoomable, explorable, with each node carrying the full story of a culture and each arc representing a real historical connection.
What emerged is the Cosmic Weave — a Three.js WebGL 3D globe with D3-powered flat-map mode, a real celestial star overlay, a guided tour system, and a comprehensive administrative console for managing the knowledge graph.
2. Data Architecture
The platform is driven by two JSON files served as static assets:
cultures.json (466KB)
The primary knowledge graph. Each culture object contains: id, name, symbol, region, era, coords (lon/lat), desc, tags, story (5 paragraphs), corePrinciples, knowledgeSystems, highlights, martialArts, notableSitesOrTexts, movement, modernLegacy, creationStories, guidingQuestions, keyTerms, modernConnections, recommendedReadings, readingLinks, researchPapers. The links array at the root describes connections between cultures with label, themes, and description.
stars.json (82KB)
Real stellar catalog data. Each star: id, ra, dec, mag, con (constellation), hawaiian_name, hawaiian_meaning, navigation_use, moolelo, distance_ly, type, and cultural_notes — a keyed object with entries for arabic, chinese, greek, mesopotamian, polynesian, maya, aboriginal_australian, japanese, maori, and more.
3. The Cosmic Weave Globe
The globe is built with Three.js r132 (WebGL sphere with CanvasTexture earth map from D3 GeoEquirectangular projection), OrbitControls for drag/zoom, CSS2DRenderer for culture labels, and GSAP for node spawn and selection animations.
Culture nodes are colored by region (Africa gold, Middle East coral, Oceania cyan, Asia purple, Americas green, Europe blue). Geodesic arcs between connected cultures are Three.js TubeMesh objects with animated pulse-bead particles traveling their length. A Fresnel shader creates the cyan-violet atmospheric rim glow.
The flat map is built with D3 v7 Mercator projection — the same culture data rendered as circles with connection arcs as bezier curves.
4. How to Navigate the Cosmic Weave
Basic Controls
Rotate the globe
Click and drag anywhere on the globe. The globe auto-rotates when no culture is selected — rotating stops when you interact, and resumes on deselect.
Zoom
Scroll wheel (desktop) or pinch gesture (mobile/tablet). Zoom limits: 1.3× minimum (close up), 8× maximum (far out). Zoom In / Out buttons in the toolbar also work.
Select a culture
Click any glowing dot to select it. The globe flies to that culture, the detail panel fills on the right (or a bottom sheet slides up on mobile), and connected cultures highlight with arcs. Click the same dot again, or click empty space, to deselect.
Keyboard navigation
← → ↑ ↓ cycle through cultures in order. Esc deselects. Press / anywhere to focus the search bar.
Switch to Map view
Click Map tab to switch from 3D globe to a flat D3 world map. All interactions are identical — click any dot to select, drag to pan, scroll to zoom. Click Globe to return.
4.1 Star Map
Activate the star map
Click the Stars button in the tab bar. A real celestial overlay appears — 65 named stars projected from their actual RA/Dec coordinates relative to the current globe rotation. Drag the globe to navigate the sky.
The star overlay does not block globe dragging — OrbitControls remain fully active.
Click a star
Click any star to open its info panel — showing its Hawaiian name, moʻolelo (story), navigation use, distance, and how multiple cultures named it. ESC closes the panel.
Change the naming tradition
A pill button bar appears at the bottom of the globe when the star map is active: Hawaiʻi · Arabic · Chinese · Greek · Babylonian · Polynesian · Maya · Aboriginal. Click any to switch all visible star labels to that culture's naming tradition. The active culture's entry is highlighted first in the info panel when you click a star.
4.2 Guided Tour
Start the tour
Click the Tour button in the tab bar. The tour has two phases. Phase 1: 3 sequential UI tooltips explaining the globe, search bar, and star map — each with a pulsing highlight ring. Phase 2: the globe flies to 5 cultures (Kanaka Maoli → Kemet → Haudenosaunee → Vedic → Mali) and at each stop a culture card slides up from the bottom showing its story, highlights, and key terms.
During a culture stop
Explore fully — ends the tour and keeps that culture selected so you can read everything. Next culture → slides the card away and flies to the next stop. End tour exits at any point. The tour can be replayed anytime by clicking Tour again.
4.3 Compare Mode
Compare two cultures
Select any culture, then click Compare in its detail panel. A hint bar appears. Select a second culture and click Compare again. A full-screen panel slides up showing both cultures side by side across 8 fields: overview, core principles, knowledge systems, highlights, martial arts, exchange & movement, modern legacy, and modern connections. Shared tags and direct links are highlighted. Close with the × button or press Esc.
4.4 Admin Console
Access the admin console at admin.html (or via the Admin link in the nav bar). Default password: ikeverse2026.
Cultures tab
Search and filter all 55 cultures by region. Click any to open the full editor — every field is editable. Array fields (story, highlights, key terms, etc.) have per-item editors. Reading links and research papers have structured title/URL/kind/description editors. Save saves to the editor state; Download cultures.json exports the full file for deployment.
Links tab
Manage all 113 connections. Edit source, target, label, description, and theme tags. Add Connection creates a new link — it validates that source ≠ target and the link doesn't already exist.
Export & Settings tab
Download cultures.json (deploy to docs/cultures.json). Import an existing JSON file to replace the editor state. Supabase sync fields for push to a remote database. Live stats show current culture count, link count, and reading material coverage.
5. Feature Reference
| Feature | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 3D Globe | Three.js WebGL sphere with real earth texture, atmosphere shader, and node animation | Live |
| Flat Map | D3 Mercator projection with culture dots and bezier connection arcs | Live |
| Star Map | 65-star celestial overlay with real RA/Dec, constellation lines, hit zones | Live |
| Culture Name Toggle | Switch star labels between 8 naming traditions | Live |
| Guided Tour | 2-phase: UI tooltips + 5-culture flyover with detail cards | Live |
| Compare Mode | Side-by-side civilizational comparison panel | Live |
| Admin Console | Full CRUD for cultures, links, and export | Live |
| Global Search | Real-time fuzzy search by name, region, era, tag | Live |
| Related Cultures | Suggests 3 culturally related nodes by shared tags | Live |
| Mobile Bottom Sheet | Drag-to-dismiss culture detail sheet on touch devices | Live |
| Weave Paths | Thematic tour paths through connected cultures | Live |
| Timeline Scrubber | Filter cultures by historical era | Live |
| Layer Threads | Highlight cultures by theme: food, water, navigation, trade, stewardship, governance | Live |
| Lazy Loading | Split cultures.json into lean meta + on-demand rich detail | Planned |
| User Accounts | Save favourites, notes, and custom paths | Planned |
| Stellarium Mode | Full planetarium with real-time star positions | Planned |
| PWA / Offline | Service worker, installable, offline culture packs | Planned |
6. Cultural Coverage
The Ikeverse covers 55 civilizational traditions across 6 regions. Every culture has a complete data profile including story (5 paragraphs), core principles, knowledge systems, highlights, key terms, guiding questions, further reading links, and research papers pointing to open-access academic sources.
| Region | Cultures | Example Nodes |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 10 | Kemet, Mali, Yoruba, Great Zimbabwe, San, Kush |
| Middle East | 8 | Mesopotamia, Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, Akkad, Punt |
| Oceania | 10 | Kanaka Maoli, Polynesia, Māori, Papua New Guinea, Palau |
| Asia | 13 | Vedic, China, Japan, Korea, Khmer, Majapahit, Vietnam |
| Americas | 10 | Haudenosaunee, Maya, Aztec, Inca, Olmec, Diné, Inuit |
| Europe | 4 | Celtic, Norse, Sami, Antarctic (Yaghan) |
Zero-isolation policy: Every culture has at least 3 connections in the knowledge graph. Average: 4.1 links per culture. All 4 zero-connection cross-region pairs (Africa↔Europe, ME↔Oceania, Americas↔ME, Europe↔ME) have been filled with historically grounded links.
7. Research Methodology
All cultural content is drawn from open-access academic sources: JSTOR papers, UNESCO World Heritage documentation, national museums, university research portals, and primary texts via Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive, and CDLI. Every reading link and research paper has been verified for accessibility at time of documentation.
Links between cultures are grounded in documented historical contact: trade routes, diaspora networks, shared astronomical traditions, military or diplomatic encounters, cross-cultural scholarship exchange, and parallel independent invention. Suggested parallels are clearly labelled as such and distinguished from direct historical links.
Cultural content is written to honour living communities — the traditions documented here are not historical relics but living knowledge systems with ongoing practice. Where communities have documented their own traditions, primary community sources are prioritized over secondary academic interpretation.
8. Roadmap Summary
See the full Roadmap page for detailed phase breakdowns. In brief:
- Phase 1 (complete) — Research foundation, framework development, initial documentation
- Phase 2 (complete) — Cosmic Weave globe, star map, admin console, full 55-culture data set
- Phase 3 (in progress · 72%) — Next.js portal, culture cards, /explore route, Pikoverse integration
- Phase 4 (2026) — User accounts, community contributions, multilingual support, API
- Phase 5 (2027+) — Decentralized governance, elder council integration, education platform
9. Mission
The Ikeverse exists to make the depth and connection of human civilizational knowledge visible, accessible, and alive. The globe is not a database — it is a living surface for exploration, where every node is a culture that shaped the world, every arc is a real human connection across time and geography, and every star is a story about how our ancestors navigated by the same sky.
We are building in the spirit of I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope — the future is in the past. By reconnecting these knowledge traditions, we create conditions for a wiser future.