# LibreMaps

A lightweight, self-hosted map viewer built with **Flask** and **Leaflet**, powered entirely by free open data from **OpenStreetMap** (via the Nominatim geocoding API) and **MapTiler** street tiles.

## Features

- **Interactive map** — pan/zoom over MapTiler "Streets" tiles, centered on Amsterdam by default.
- **Search** — type a place or POI to search. Results are first restricted to the area currently visible on the map; if nothing is found locally, it automatically falls back to searching the entire world.
- **Category shortcuts** — quick chips for common places (Supermarkt, Café, Kroeg, Camping, Park, Restaurant, Vegan, Hotel, Parkeerplek).
- **Typed pins** — each result is drawn as a colored circular badge whose emoji and color reflect the POI type (e.g. 🍴 orange for food, 🛏 purple for hotels, 🚆 blue for transport, 💊 red for pharmacies, 🌳 green for parks). A small permanent label shows the location name above each pin.
- **Place details card** — click a result or a pin to see the name, type, address, opening hours, phone, website, email, and extra tags (cuisine, brand, wheelchair access, payment methods, etc.).
- **Actions** — get directions (Google Maps), web search (Qwant), call, visit website, or email directly from the detail card.
- **Reverse geocoding** — click anywhere on the map (when zoomed in enough) to look up what's at that spot.
- **"My location"** button using browser geolocation.
- **Responsive layout** — adapts to mobile screens.

## Tech Stack

| Layer     | Technology                          |
|-----------|-------------------------------------|
| Backend   | Python 3, Flask                     |
| Frontend  | Vanilla JS, Leaflet 1.9.4           |
| Geocoding | OpenStreetMap Nominatim             |
| Tiles     | MapTiler Streets v4                 |

## Project Structure

```
openmaps/
├── app.py               # Flask app: /, /search, /geocode routes
├── templates/
│   └── index.html       # Single-page UI (map + all client logic)
├── sync.py              # Sync helper script
├── requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
├── Dockerfile           # Container image definition
├── docker-compose.yml   # Local container orchestration
├── .dockerignore
└── .gitignore
```

## How It Works

### Backend (`app.py`)

Three endpoints proxy requests to Nominatim while applying a simple rate limit (minimum 1 second between calls) and a descriptive `User-Agent`:

- `GET /` — serves the single-page UI.
- `GET /search?q=...&viewbox=left,top,right,bottom` — forwards a forward-geocoding query. When a valid viewbox is supplied, results are bounded to that region (`bounded=1`). Returns normalized JSON (coordinates, address, extratags, namedetails, importance, bounding box).
- `GET /geocode?lat=...&lon=...` — reverse-geocodes a coordinate into a place record.

### Frontend (`templates/index.html`)

- Initializes a Leaflet map with MapTiler tiles.
- Builds a viewbox from the current map bounds and sends it with each search so results stay local.
- Renders results in a scrollable card and drops typed pins on the map.
- Falls back to a worldwide search when the local search returns nothing.
- Shows a detail card with contact info, opening hours, and action buttons.

## Getting Started

### Prerequisites

- Python 3.x
- (Optional) Docker / Docker Compose

### Run locally

```bash
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py
```

Then open <http://localhost:5000>.

### Run with Docker

```bash
docker compose up --build
```

## Notes

- The MapTiler tile layer uses an embedded API key in `templates/index.html`; replace it with your own key for production use.
- Nominatim has usage policies — keep the built-in rate limiting in place and identify your application via the `User-Agent`.