Event horizon.
A theoretical boundary around a black hole. Inside it, gravity captures everything; outside it, the same boundary can be observed. The pull is one-way.
About Pulse Horizon
An independent observatory, and the methodology behind it.
Pulse Horizon is built by two friends with twenty-plus years each in their respective rooms. It is where we stitch complex data points together to drive clarity and ease of access to complex problems. We're starting with Sydney heat stress and the data-centre commissioning around the city, because that's where we think the biggest gap between the data and the people who need to read it sits today.
The methodology
Collect, stitch, review, publish.
Four moves. The technology is straightforward; the discipline is in keeping the humans in the loop at the right step.
- 01
How we collect
Pulse Horizon stitches together live public data, nothing in here is private, nothing is paid for. The BoMBureau of MeteorologyAustralia's national weather service. The map's apparent-temperature grid is calibrated against the BoM station network. stations, the NSW RFSRural Fire ServiceThe NSW emergency service that runs bushfire response. Their live perimeter feed powers the fires overlay on the map. active-incident feed, Transport for NSW GTFS-RTGeneral Transit Feed Specification, Real TimeThe open standard for live transit data. Sydney trains, buses and ferries publish on GTFS-RT., AEMOAustralian Energy Market OperatorRuns the national electricity and gas markets. Grid demand and price signals on the map come from AEMO feeds. grid demand, AusgridAusgridThe distribution network operator for eastern Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter. Their live outage feed powers the outages overlay on the map. distribution outages, the NSW NZCNet Zero CommissionAn NSW statutory body tracking the state's emissions and sector progress towards net zero. registry, the ABSAustralian Bureau of StatisticsThe national statistics agency. Census + vulnerability composites on the map use ABS data. census, NSW Health LHDLocal Health DistrictAn NSW Health administrative region. There are 8 LHDs across the Sydney area; heat-mortality calibration uses them. boundaries, and the NSW planning data-centre register. Every source is named on the layer it feeds.
- 02
How we stitch
We aggregate everything onto a single hex grid across Sydney, 3,678 cells at the same resolution, refreshed every 15 minutes. Same grid for every layer means you can read heat, vulnerability, fires, outages and data-centre clusters on one page without forcing the eye to translate between scales. The hex is where the project gets its name.
- 03
Why the data-centre angle matters
Sydney's western corridor is commissioning roughly 5 big new data-centre clusters at once. Each one adds heat to its locale, draws power from the same network that has to cool homes, and tends to land near suburbs that are already uplifted on the heat-vulnerability composite. That's an UHIUrban Heat IslandThe phenomenon where built-up areas run hotter than their rural surrounds, especially overnight. question and a grid-headroom question wrapped in a regulatory one. Pulse Horizon is one of the few places you can see all three on one canvas.
- 04
Humans at the heart
Every layer is reviewed by us, MattMatt ShoreCo-founder. Engineer with twenty-plus years across AI infrastructure and software platforms. The technology + AI lens on every layer., SamSam BotterillCo-founder. Decentralised energy and regulation specialist with twenty-plus years inside the sector. The energy + sustainability lens on every layer., and the SMEsSubject-Matter ExpertSomeone with deep, field-specific experience. We use SMEs to review every layer before it ships. we trust, before it ships. Public data on its own gets you confidence intervals; the read is closed by shared human experience. We don't automate the review away. That's the bit that keeps governance and transparency honest, and the reason we put our names on every conclusion.
The principle
Why we're called Pulse Horizon.
Pulse Horizon.
We create the Pulse Horizon for the outside observer. Inside the build-out, gravity captures judgement: operators measure their own claims, regulators inherit the operator's data, planners price the upside and inherit the downside. From outside the horizon the same boundary is readable. Pulse Horizon publishes the read.
Built by two friends
The founders.
Matt · technology + AI
Matt Shore
Founder · Alt Horizon · AI + infrastructure
From IT apprentice to founder of Alt Horizon. Two decades of hands-on systems work. Instrumental to understanding token economics and creating HPE's UKIMEA AI / HPC strategy, messaging, value propositions and GTM through Jan 2026. Dyslexic, holistic, evidence-led.
The longer read
Current: Founder of Alt Horizon, an engineering-first AI consultancy built on measurable outcomes, predictable costs and data sovereignty. Co-founder of Pulse Horizon.
Track record:
- 20+ years hands-on systems, IT apprentice to founder; full-stack infrastructure engineering across the entire layer.
- AI & HPC Solutions Business Manager (UKIMEA) at HPE through Jan 2026; instrumental to understanding token economics and creating HPE’s UKIMEA AI / HPC strategy, messaging, value propositions and GTM, including a 600+ member customer community across the region.
- Solutions-first builder, designs to the need and the outcome rather than the stack; composable services, automation and tooling over heavy scaffolding.
- “Sovereign AI Stack” architect, self-hosted on-prem AI deployments, TCO / ROI modelling on token-based pricing.
Why he’s here: AI advice sits too close to the hype cycle and too far from the infrastructure. Alt Horizon was built to close that gap; Pulse Horizon extends the same evidence-led posture into the public realm. The AI build-out can’t be a black box.
Lens: technology, infrastructure, AI economics, token economics, scope-2 and scope-3 emissions, vendor lock-in, cooling investment ROI.
Sam · energy + sustainability
Sam Botterill
Founder · Active Energy Information Systems · Energy + sustainability + decentralised energy regulation specialist
Energy and sustainability project director. Builds at the intersection of regulated markets and new business models.
The longer read
Current: Director, Active Energy Information Systems (formerly Sckratch, Jan 2022 to present), a special-purpose company developing new ideas in the energy and utilities space, around regulation and the market integration of new business models. MSc Energy, Technology and Economics (City University) + BA Politics and Government (Durham).
Track record:
- Advisor to Powerledger (AUS) on decentralised regulation and approaches to market access.
- Chair, SARCC, €11M pan-European nature-based-solutions project; 14 partner organisations delivered through Brexit + crisis-grade conditions.
- Primary advisor to South-Eastern Local Authorities on engagement with electricity-distribution network operators on Ofgem Price Control determination.
- Prosumer Design Lead, EMPOWER 2, €4M EU domestic demand-side-response project; designed prosumer business models with battery, solar and micro-CHP.
- Advisor to Allied Irish Bank on delivery of sustainability loans and banking products.
- Independent Advisor to Innovate UK, contracted to aid with analysis for the flagship local-energy-systems competition and the integration of decentralised cities into the energy system.
- Commercial Manager, Electron, bridged blockchain DLT to demand-side response; public spokesperson on DSR + DLT for energy networks.
- Executive Assistant to CEO, Kiwi Power, regulation and ops; helped move diesel farms out of UK DSR product set, with cabinet-office engagement and questions in the Commons.
- Energy Institute Carbon Capture and Storage, funded by the Australian Government.
Why he’s here: the AI build-out’s grid + sustainability impact is being scoped by people who don’t understand the markets that have to absorb it. Pulse Horizon brings the regulatory + market literacy that turns climate data into commercial conversations.
Lens: local power markets, network charges, NABERSNational Australian Built Environment Rating SystemAustralia's environmental rating system for buildings; has a data-centre-specific rating. for data centres, NEMNational Electricity MarketThe wholesale electricity market for eastern and southern Australia. Data centres in Sydney sit on the NEM. design, DSR + flexibility, ESG investing, peer-to-peer energy trading.
Since Est. 2026
Five moves so far. More on the way.
- Jan 2026 Project founded by Botterill & Shore.
- Apr 2026 First hex layer published: 3,678 cells across the Sydney basin, refreshed every 15 min.
- May 2026 · early 72-site data-centre inventory wired into the map, ranked by disclosed MW.
- May 2026 · mid NSW Parliament data-centre inquiry case study live; pulled the hearings, submissions and a watching brief into one page.
- 21 May 2026 Public launch on pulsehorizon.co.uk.
- Next New free map views and the first Botterill & Shore blog drop. Sign up to get them.