Field Notes

Field notes on risk, sources, and the work of being right.

Working notes on risk intelligence, OSINT tradecraft, and how a judgement earns the right to be trusted. Method in the open.

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Field notes

How to check natural-hazard risk before buying a house in Switzerland

Flood, landslide, rockfall: Swiss cantons publish hazard maps you can read parcel by parcel, for free — and most buyers sign without ever opening them.

Samuel Pouyt · 11 Aug 2026 · 5 min read
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Field notes How to assess a property location before you buy A house purchase is an intelligence problem: a crime baseline, a natural-hazard read, and the zoning change already sitting in the public record. 29 Jul 2026 · 9 min read Method What is a possible course of action (PCOA)? A PCOA is a decision made before the stress: a fact-pattern trigger, and ranked options that point at real ground. Not a forecast, not a probability. 29 Jul 2026 · 10 min read Method How to assess a route through a high-risk city A route assessment is not a line on a map: a regional read, each fixed point assessed, a graded route — and an honest record of what is unconfirmed. 14 Jul 2026 · 5 min read Tradecraft Why do maps matter? The common operating picture A map's real job isn't navigation — it's holding a shared, current picture so a team reasons from the same reality. That is the common operating picture. 18 Jun 2026 · 3 min read Tradecraft How do you actually build situational awareness? Situational awareness isn't vigilance or paranoia — it's a trained loop: perceive, comprehend, anticipate. The model, the failure mode, and the practice. 17 Jun 2026 · 4 min read Method What is a GSOC (global security operations centre)? A GSOC keeps an organisation's picture of physical risk current and turns it into action — how it works, and how it differs from a cyber SOC. 16 Jun 2026 · 4 min read Method What is risk intelligence? Risk intelligence is judgement under uncertainty — sourced, weighed, honest about what it doesn't know. Not forecasting, and not risk management. 15 Jun 2026 · 4 min read Method What is protective intelligence? Seeing a threat early enough to act before it arrives — not guarding, not surveillance. Knowing early is the first act of protection. 14 Jun 2026 · 4 min read Method How to read a risk report: what 'sourced' means A trustworthy risk report traces to primary sources, shows its triangulation, and records what it rejected. How to tell one from a confident guess. 13 Jun 2026 · 2 min read