Every dot on the ground is one beekeeper's apiary. The teal hub at the centre is the local beekeeping association; the golden beacon overhead represents the national body and National Bee Unit that associations feed information up to. Some hives are formal association members (linked to the hub), some have a personal mentor (a golden link to an experienced beekeeper nearby), and some have neither — they sit isolated, out in the field, with no line to anyone.
In the UK, notifiable bee diseases such as American and European foulbrood are tracked through BeeBase and the National Bee Unit, but the fastest early warnings usually travel bee-keeper to bee-keeper — through local associations like the BBKA's network of branches and through informal mentor relationships — long before an official inspector arrives.
A 3D network of apiaries scattered across a patch of countryside, linked (or not) to a local beekeeping association hub, personal mentors, and the national body above. Trigger a disease outbreak and watch the alert travel only along real connections.
Health information — a suspected foulbrood case, a swarm warning, a pesticide alert — can only spread along real links between beekeepers. Association membership and mentor relationships are those links; an isolated apiary with neither stays uninformed no matter how urgent the alert.
Set how many apiaries exist, what share belong to the association, and what share have a mentor. Click "Report disease outbreak" to send an alert from a random hive and watch it race outward; then check how many hives were reached in time and how many were left isolated.
UK beekeepers report suspected notifiable diseases through the National Bee Unit's BeeBase service, but local BBKA-affiliated associations and informal mentor networks are often the first line of detection — spotting trouble during routine hive visits long before an official inspection.