FUTURE_FEATURES.md

Future Features

Purpose

This document preserves the future-feature inventory that has accumulated during Libration development.

It is not a commitment to implement everything. It is a retention and planning document so good ideas are not lost when a phase intentionally defers them.

Feature status vocabulary

• Candidate: worth considering later.
• Planned: likely future work, but not current.
• Blocked: depends on another architecture phase.
• Rejected: intentionally not desired.
• Implemented: available in the product.

Implemented map UI foundations

The current map configuration UI already includes:

• categorized base-map selector groups.
• curated substrate taxonomy.
• map preview card for the selected base-map family.
• attribution display for the selected base-map family (Source & license block: credit line, optional licenseNote, up to two external sourceLinks from the bundled catalog).
• month-aware family catalog copy and active UTC civil month indication for Blue Marble families in BaseMapStyleControl (render-clock productInstantMs; not persisted in SceneConfig).
• per-family base-map presentation controls.
• shared presentation persistence across seasonal/month-aware raster variants.
• bundled catalog capabilities consumed upstream for overlay lift (optional intrinsics include reliefShaded, boundaryDense, chromaticDense, bathymetryShaded, fineScaleTexture, labelDense, etchedReliefDense, sunGlintDense—curator metadata; e.g. Blue Marble TB sets bathymetryShaded with reliefShaded; Blue Marble BM/T set fineScaleTexture and sunGlintDense; equirect-world-political-v1 and equirect-world-geology-v1 set labelDense alongside chromatic/boundary hints (shipped non-transitional families); legacy world sets etchedReliefDense for packaged etched shaded relief; static Natural Earth–lineage topography equirect-world-topography-ne-v1 sets reliefShaded).

Future map and scene UX work should extend these foundations rather than replacing them.

Implemented astronomical and illumination foundations

The current scene system already includes:

• solar shading / dark-side visualization with a continuous attenuation-driven twilight illumination field in the same planetary illumination raster (civil/nautical/astronomical thresholds retained as semantic anchors, not rendered boundaries; backend execution remains a plain raster blit with no twilight-specific semantics).
• incremental twilight transition tuning (upstream-only constants in src/renderer/illuminationShading.ts): cumulative narrow passes (first + second doc-finalized pass)—smoother anchor color coupling, bounded non-emissive atmospheric tint cap, gentler day-side tint envelope below +4° daylight clear—still no separate twilight layer, still one rasterPatch.
• non-emissive atmospheric twilight composition using attenuation and tint modulation rather than additive glow.
• moonlight in the same raster: presentation modes (off / natural / enhanced / illustrative) resolved upstream; Layers UI integration.
• emissive night lights as a composition input (catalog-backed assetId, policy-driven sampling into the same illumination raster, Layers Off / Natural / Enhanced / Illustrative for mode, plus presentation intensity and luma-lift exponent / perceptual driver; shipped NASA Black Marble 2016 reference asset). Future refinements: optional asset picker, intensity curves, alternate resolutions or years—without moving semantics into the backend.
• Overlay readability (v1 + v1.1 + derived substrate lift + SceneConfig presentation + default-stack per-layer pilots): OverlayReadabilityFrame on TimeContext (one per tick from the shell): v1 subsolar night veil on grid, analemma, subsolar/sublunar markers, city pins, and static equirect rasters; v1.1 adds deterministic emissive policy-only legibility pressure from scene.illumination.emissiveNightLights into readabilityVeil01At / globalReadabilityVeil01 (no emissive texture sampling in the readability path); substrate lift scale on the same frame (substrateOverlayReadabilityLiftScale01) from effective base-map presentation + catalog capabilities (overlayOptimized, darkFriendly, optional reliefShaded / boundaryDense / chromaticDense / bathymetryShaded / fineScaleTexture / labelDense / etchedReliefDense / sunGlintDense, plus sub-1 effective brightness reducing presentation-derived attenuation); scene.overlayReadability.presentation scales combined veil and lift in the shell before hints; perLayer keys (grid, solarAnalemma, subsolarMarker, sublunarMarker, cityPins, staticEquirectOverlay) optionally repeat those scalars per layer (identity subtrees omitted on normalize); vector stroke/alpha scaling resolved upstream.
• seasonal polar illumination behavior emerging from solar geometry and axial tilt.
• subsolar marker.
• sublunar marker.
• solar analemma overlay.
• semantic astronomical scene participation through the layer system.

Future work may extend these systems only with explicit product scope—Slice 2 queues B/C default cadence closed (PLAN.md): further substrate heuristics (beyond the eight-intrinsic baseline), fourth+ twilight passes, scattering/haze, optional SceneConfig twilight softness, and (when Phase 10 lifecycle exists) weather/cloud implementation per docs/specs/scene/weather-cloud-composition-plan.md—planning closed (queue D)—not by re-deriving baseline twilight/moonlight/emissive or the settled overlay readability perLayer defaults for grid, solarAnalemma, subsolarMarker, sublunarMarker, cityPins, and staticEquirectOverlay.

Maps and base-map families

Candidate curated map families

• Implemented baseline (geology): global geologic provinces equirect-world-geology-v1 (see docs/maps/MAP_ASSET_SOURCES.md). Future: alternate geology styles, higher-resolution scientific linework.
• Implemented baseline (static terrain): global shaded-relief / elevation emphasis equirect-world-topography-ne-v1 (see docs/maps/MAP_ASSET_SOURCES.md). Future: higher-resolution or alternate-source terrain, month-aware DEM families, neutral terrain-only palettes.
• Implemented baseline (bathymetry): global relief / ocean-floor depth equirect-world-bathymetry-etopo-v1 (NOAA ETOPO 2022 lineage; see docs/maps/MAP_ASSET_SOURCES.md). Future: alternate bathymetry products (e.g. GEBCO-only styling), higher-resolution grids, additional hypsometric palettes.
• natural-color seasonal imagery.
• Blue Marble variants.
• Implemented baseline (political/reference): equirect-world-political-v1 (Natural Earth–lineage shipped raster in the bundled catalog). Future: alternate political styles, borders-only overlay-friendly variants.
• borders-only overlay-friendly maps.
• Implemented baseline (population density): global GPWv4 2020 density equirect-world-population-gpw-v1 (see docs/maps/MAP_ASSET_SOURCES.md). Future: alternate GPW epochs, WorldPop grids.
• Implemented baseline (land cover / vegetation): global MODIS IGBP classification equirect-world-landcover-modis-v1 (see docs/maps/MAP_ASSET_SOURCES.md). Future: Copernicus 100m discrete map, alternate MODIS epochs, higher-resolution products.
• biome / ecology.
• Implemented baseline (Köppen–Geiger climate zones): present-day classification equirect-world-climate-koppen-beck-v1 (Beck et al. 2018; see docs/maps/MAP_ASSET_SOURCES.md). Future: temperature / precipitation climatologies, alternate Köppen epochs (Beck V3), Koppen-only border variants.
• precipitation.
• temperature normals (distinct raster products).
• cloud climatology.
• additional night-light or light-pollution map substrate products beyond the bundled Black Marble composition input.
• light pollution.
• shaded relief.
• terrain-only neutral substrate.
• antique or paper-style reference map if visually differentiated.
• high-contrast accessibility map.
• dark-friendly overlay substrate.

Map asset quality improvements

• stronger source provenance in catalog (beyond per-family licenseNote / sourceLinks already in the bundled catalog).
• clear placeholder versus sourced status.
• map source processing notes.
• validation checklists per family.
• month-aware family explanation in UI. Shipped: Blue Marble catalog shortDescription copy and variantMode on selector options.
• active displayed-month indication for seasonal families. Shipped: Displaying: <month> (UTC civil month N) in BaseMapStyleControl when a month-aware family is selected (productInstantMs from render loop).
• fixed-month override for comparison or demonstration.
• presentation presets per map role.

Scene layers

Static overlays

• borders overlay.
• graticule overlay.
• time-zone boundary overlay as informational layer, not structural model.
• city labels.
• reference cities.
• custom pins.
• user-defined routes.
• shipping lanes.
• flight routes.
• satellite ground-track static references.
• tectonic plates.
• ocean currents.
• climate bands.
• daylight terminator reference lines.

Derived overlays

• solar shading / dark-side visualization (continuous solar-altitude twilight gradient encoded in the same upstream illumination raster, with civil/nautical/astronomical thresholds retained as semantic anchors, not a separate twilight layer).
• solar subpoint.
• lunar subpoint.
• moon phase and ground track.
• analemma variants.
• equinox and solstice reference overlays.
• eclipse path overlays.
• great-circle paths.
• antipode markers.
• local noon/midnight curves.
• reference-city meridian line.
• read-point alignment marker.
• UTC meridian reference.

Dynamic and live layers

Blocked until dynamic data lifecycle exists (Phase 10). Participation boundaries and sequencing: docs/specs/scene/weather-cloud-composition-plan.md.

Candidates:

• weather radar.
• cloud cover.
• precipitation forecast.
• temperature forecast.
• wind fields.
• pressure systems.
• hurricane tracks.
• aurora forecast.
• earthquake feed.
• volcano activity.
• aircraft ADS-B feed.
• marine AIS feed.
• satellite live positions.
• ISS and selected spacecraft.
• lightning feed.
• wildfire smoke.
• air quality.

Composition and visual systems

Baseline planetary illumination (solar + continuous twilight + moonlight + optional emissive night lights → one upstream rasterPatch) is implemented. Upstream overlay substrate lift consumes bundled catalog capabilities: eight optional intrinsic hints through sunGlintDense (see docs/maps/MAP_ASSET_SOURCES.md and src/core/substrateOverlayReadabilityLiftScale.ts), plus overlayOptimized / darkFriendly presentation multipliers—implemented, not speculative. Doc-finalized: BM/T sunGlintDense curation and cumulative twilight through the third pass complete the composition baseline; Slice 2 queues B/C default cadence closed (PLAN.md). Backlog items below are explicit-scope futures (ninth+ intrinsics, fourth+ twilight, deeper scattering/haze, etc.)—not standing default PRs or re-litigation of shipped baselines.

Planned or candidate composition features

• layer blending modes.
• multiply, screen, additive, normal.
• alpha masks.
• geometric clipping.
• viewport clipping.
• composition-aware day/night illumination.
• atmospheric scattering and haze refinement, or optional fourth+ narrow constants-only twilight passes (cumulative incremental upstream tuning through second and third passes is shipped in src/renderer/illuminationShading.ts; deeper work remains open).
• shadow and glow effects expressed upstream as RenderPlan intent.
• Overlay readability extensions beyond v1 + v1.1 + substrate lift + presentation + six default-stack perLayer pilots + the shipped eight-intrinsic substrate heuristic set (reliefShaded / boundaryDense / chromaticDense / bathymetryShaded / fineScaleTexture / labelDense / etchedReliefDense / sunGlintDense, sub-1 brightness dimming): perLayer contracts for additional stack rows where justified; finer multi-row semantics (e.g. separate pilots per static-raster row); additional optional catalog or resolver heuristics (ninth+ intrinsic axes or presentation rules when product-defined).
• active solar-position synchronization along analemma trajectories.
• per-layer contrast/brightness/saturation/gamma where appropriate.
• high-contrast accessibility mode.

Day/night product ideas

• scientifically grounded day/night and twilight attenuation.
• configurable twilight softness (not persisted under cumulative shipped constants-only tuning; future SceneConfig axis if product adds it).
• optional additional night-light data products layered as future composition or substrate inputs (beyond current Black Marble path).
• stronger emissive readability presets tied to overlay density or zoom when those modes exist.
• seasonal illumination effects.
• solar altitude shading.
• reference-time comparison modes.

Scene view and projection

Blocked until scene view work is opened.

Candidates:

• zoom.
• pan.
• full-world fixed view with preserved aspect rules.
• orthographic globe.
• perspective globe.
• Mercator.
• Robinson.
• Winkel Tripel.
• projection switcher.
• inverse projection for pointer hover.
• click-to-inspect lat/lon/time.
• viewport clipping.
• tile preparation.
• high-resolution map assets.

Time and reference-frame features

Candidates:

• reference city selector refinement.
• saved reference cities.
• custom reference meridian.
• read-point visualization.
• local 12 hour and local 24 hour display modes.
• UTC-style display mode clarity.
• demo mode timeline.
• time scrubber.
• historical time playback.
• future time preview.
• compare two reference cities.
• meeting-planning mode.
• sunrise/sunset for selected city.
• civil-date boundary visualization.
• date-line explanation aids.
• leap second and time standard notes if ever needed.

Display chrome

Candidates:

• top-band layout presets.
• accessibility size controls.
• high-contrast top chrome.
• alternate hour-marker visual families.
• analog clock polish.
• radial line polish.
• radial wedge polish.
• text font curation.
• NATO row visibility and styling controls.
• tickmark density controls.
• bottom information bar expansion.
• status readouts.
• current reference city readout.
• selected map/source readout.
• layer legend area.

Presets and configuration

Planned direction:

• named partial config presets.
• composable preset stacks.
• explicit application order.
• last-write-wins conflicts.
• scene presets.
• chrome presets.
• map/layer presets.
• accessibility presets.
• export/import user presets.
• reset selected domain to defaults.
• compare current config to preset.
• preset migration support.

Quality of life

Candidates:

• improved settings organization.
• search/filter in settings.
• map selector with thumbnails.
• source attribution panel.
• layer stack drag-and-drop.
• visibility and opacity quick controls.
• undo/redo for config edits.
• reset individual setting groups.
• onboarding wizard.
• diagnostics panel.
• failed raster diagnostics.
• asset validation report.
• performance overlay.
• screenshot/export frame.
• portable config export/import.

Development and contributor experience

Candidates:

• stronger Cursor rules.
• local architecture decision records.
• docs freshness checklist.
• source validation scripts.
• map catalog validation command.
• visual regression tests where practical.
• RenderPlan inspection tools.
• scene debug overlays.
• config diff tooling.
• typed schema export.
• test fixtures for map catalogs.
• release checklist.
• public contribution guide.

Product-category expansion ideas

These are larger future directions, not near-term tasks:

• wallboard or appliance mode.
• presentation mode.
• browser version.
• hosted dashboard mode only if AGPL/network implications are intentional.
• local network display endpoint.
• OBS/streaming background mode.
• kiosk mode.
• educational mode explaining longitude, time, seasons, and projection.
• mission-control style scene packs.
• personal travel/world-clock dashboard.