Making sure every sighting is from the water

Why we added this

As Sea Spotter grows, the heat-map and notifications are only as good as the reports feeding them. Until now, nothing stopped a sighting from being logged anywhere — a boat, a beach, or, true story, a city fountain. That's fine as a rare joke, but it quietly erodes the one thing that makes the map worth trusting.

What changed

Every report is now checked against real coastline data before it's accepted. If a sighting falls well outside the water, it's rejected with a clear message explaining why, instead of silently going through. Coastlines are messy, though — bays, inlets, and narrow channels don't always line up neatly with a chart, so the check leaves a generous margin (around 10 kilometres) near the shore. We'd rather occasionally accept a report we can't be fully sure about than reject a real sighting from someone anchored in a quiet cove.

A smaller fix

If a report ever fails to submit for another reason, the error message now shows right next to the Submit button instead of at the top of a long form — so you'll actually see it.

Fair winds, and keep reporting what you see out there.