Your first four steps
Select Historic, Sightings, Local, Heat, or Habitat.
Zoom and move the map to the area you want to examine.
Open its popup to see the available report information.
Review location, terrain, nearby reports, date, and source.
How to read Atlas correctly
A marker means, “This database record is plotted here.” It does not mean Atlas has independently proven a Bigfoot stood on that exact spot. The marker position is only as precise as the location information available in the original report.
Some records contain exact coordinates. Others contain only a county, town, road, landmark, shoreline, or general area. Atlas must still give those records a map position, so an approximate point may be used until better information is found.
Read the popup before judging the marker. The description, county, state, date, source, and surrounding geography provide the context. The point alone never tells the entire story.
Markers and map colors
Colors identify map layers, not evidence strength. Use the popup information—not color alone—to understand a record.
Markers versus heat
Individual colored points represent records with coordinates. Click a point to open its popup.
Heat or haze is a concentration visualization calculated from multiple records or environmental cells. It is not one sighting and does not mean a creature was confirmed throughout the colored area.
Atlas controls guide
| Button | Function | What you should expect |
|---|---|---|
| Historic | Loads historical records | Blue report markers based on the historical database. |
| Sightings | Loads public user encounters | Green markers for reports submitted to Atlas and made public. |
| Local | Loads regional or locally maintained records | Orange markers with available location and encounter details. |
| Heat | Shows geographic concentrations in the Atlas dataset | A colored concentration layer calculated from nearby records. It helps reveal spatial patterns that may be difficult to see among individual markers. Heat shows reporting concentration, not animal population density or proof of presence. |
| Habitat | Compares environmental context across the landscape | A modeled layer using available habitat-related information to compare environmental settings associated with report locations. It is a research aid for examining possible relationships, not evidence that Bigfoot occupies an area. |
| Analyze | Runs pattern analysis | Potential clusters and corridors calculated from currently available data. |
| GPS | Uses your device location | Your position on the map after browser permission is granted. |
| Proximity | Checks records near your position | A distance-based view or summary of nearby records. |
| Dashboard | Opens Atlas statistics | Current cataloged public totals and geographic summaries calculated from the historical-report data. |
| Reports | Opens report tools | Submission, review, or report-management functions as available. |
| Timeline | Opens verified-record time analysis | Use the year slider or playback controls to examine the published historical sequence. |
| Account | Opens account and subscription functions | View Atlas access status and securely manage your subscription. |
| Help | Opens assistance | Documentation and guidance for using Atlas. |
Why are some report locations adjusted?
A marker that originally plots in water is not automatically a water encounter. Atlas distinguishes the preserved source coordinate from any display-only coordinate used to present the report responsibly on the map.
Older, compiled, or incomplete reports may provide only a town, county, lake, shoreline, road, park, landmark, or approximate point. Geocoding, transcription, or legacy-coordinate errors can therefore place an otherwise land-based encounter in a lake, river, or offshore water.
Atlas never overwrites the original/source coordinates. They remain part of the evidentiary record. If the narrative actually supports an encounter in or on the water, including swimming, wading, crossing water, or an explicitly water-based observation, the evidentiary location is retained and is not automatically moved to land.
If the narrative does not support a water encounter, Atlas may calculate a separate display-only land position. Placement is based first on the best available narrative, geographic, and location evidence. Atlas does not simply snap every questionable point to the mathematically nearest shoreline, because doing so can stack unrelated reports onto one artificial location and imply a precision the source does not support.
When multiple adjusted reports would otherwise overlap, Atlas may use minimal display-only separation along appropriate nearby land. This affects presentation only; it never changes the preserved source or evidentiary coordinates.
An adjusted marker keeps its normal classification or status color and receives a blue aura. The aura means Adjusted Location / Coordinate Adjustment only. It is not a “Water Report” designation.
The map should therefore be read as an evidence-aware display, not as a claim of survey-grade geographic precision. Where a location has been adjusted, the source location remains preserved underneath the display layer.
Publication and review safeguards
Atlas does not automatically publish an AI-reviewed record. Automated review may organize evidence, identify possible issues, and recommend follow-up, but every candidate ends at human review required. Only a human-authorized publication decision can expose a record publicly.
Missing, incomplete, bibliographic, blank, truncated, or illegible evidence does not by itself justify rejection. Exclusion requires affirmative evidence and a documented exclusion basis. Strange, old, weakly documented, shoreline-associated, or questionable physical reports remain available for appropriate human judgment rather than being silently discarded.
Important interpretation limits
Atlas organizes reports, locations, environmental information, and calculated patterns. It distinguishes reported information from Atlas-generated analysis. A sighting marker represents a report; heat, clusters, corridors, probability, and habitat layers are analytical aids derived from available data.
Database totals may change as duplicates are removed, coordinates are corrected, sources are reviewed, and new records are added. Several markers in one place may reflect a true concentration, repeated reporting of one event, easier public access, higher population, or better source coverage. An empty area may mean no reports have been collected there—not necessarily no activity.
Managing Your Atlas Membership
Atlas subscriptions renew automatically each month unless canceled. You can review your subscription, update your payment method, or cancel through your Atlas Account.
If you cancel, your Atlas access remains active through the end of your current paid billing period. You will not be charged for another billing period after the cancellation takes effect.