MobilityDB Leaflet

Welcome to the Spatiotemporal Data Visualization Tool, an interactive map for visualizing moving object data from a MobilityDB database!

This project was created as part of a Master's thesis in Computer Science and makes use of open-source technologies including MobilityDB, pg_tileserv, Leaflet, React, and FastAPI.

The master thesis can be found here.

Main Features

• Dynamic Visualization: Our tool offers the possibility to visualize moving objects on an interactive map.
• Temporal Control: Control the time frame for the visualized data, providing options to play, pause, and navigate through time.
• Object Filtering: The tool allows you to limit the number of objects displayed, ensuring efficient visualization.
• Dataset Compatibility: Currently compatible with the AIS dataset, and designed with extendibility for additional datasets.

Project Structure

This project consists of two main directories:

• frontend: This directory contains the React and Leaflet code for the frontend of the application.
• backend: This directory contains a FastAPI server written in Python that communicates with the MobilityDB database.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have met the following requirements:

• You have installed the latest version of Python 3, Node.JS, and PostgreSQL
• You have a PostgreSQL database with the PostGIS and MobilityDB extensions installed

Datasets

This visualization tool can be used with various moving object datasets. Currently, it supports the following dataset:

AIS Data

Our project uses the AIS (Automatic Identification System) dataset available here. The AIS system is used for tracking and identifying marine vessels, providing a wealth of spatio-temporal data. Please visit the link to get access to the AIS data.

If you wish to add support for another dataset, please check out the 'Contributing' section. We'd love to make this tool compatible with more types of moving object data!

Importing the AIS Dataset

Follow the instructions below to import the AIS dataset:

1. Download your preferred dataset from AIS.
2. Create a database named ais.
3. Add the input_ais() function to this database. This function can be found in the functions.sql file. ⚠️ Be sure to modify the line FROM '/mnt/g/ais_datasets/aisdk-2023-05-23/aisdk-2023-05-23.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV HEADER; to point to the correct location of the downloaded file.
4. Execute the function.

Your data should now be imported!

After setting up pg_tileserv, you should be able to see the new function in the GUI of pg_tileserv (which runs by default on port 7802).

Getting Started

To get the application running, you need to set up the backend server, frontend server, and the pg_tileserv for serving map tiles:

Backend

1. Navigate to the backend directory.
2. Install the required Python packages with pip install -r requirements.txt.
3. Copy the .env.dist file to a .env file
4. Modify the .env file to match your database information
5. Run the FastAPI server with uvicorn wsgi:app.

pg_tileserv

pg_tileserv is a server that provides map tiles from your PostGIS data.

1. Download and install pg_tileserv from its GitHub repository.
2. Ensure that pg_tileserv is configured to access your PostgreSQL database, which should have the PostGIS and MobilityDB extensions installed.
3. Run pg_tileserv.

Frontend

1. Navigate to the frontend directory.
2. Install the required Node.js packages with npm install.
3. Ensure that the local_ip constant in App.js is set to your local IP address and db_name is set to ais
4. Start the React application with npm start.

After setting up all components, you should be able to see the application running at localhost:3000!

Contributing

This is an open-source project, and contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit a pull request or create an issue.

License

This project is licensed under the PostgreSQL License. See the LICENSE file for more details.