David Lovelace Archive

Static-first website and data portal for the David Lovelace Archive, a large Herefordshire landscape history collection containing maps, aerial photography, habitat data, and research notes.

In Memory: This archive is dedicated to the memory of David Lovelace (1948–2026), who passed away on Tuesday 5th May 2026. His life's work documenting the Herefordshire landscape continues through this project. We intend to donate these datasets to relevant heritage and environmental organisations.

🌐 Live site: https://david-lovelace-archive.netlify.app

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Quick Start

npm install
npm run data:download -- --required-only    # Fetch release assets once
npm run dev                                 # Start dev server
npm run check                               # Type checks before pushing

Auto-deploys on push to main via Netlify.

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Architecture

• Data separation: Raw 2TB archive stays mounted locally; only derived assets are published
• Manifest-driven: Datasets and releases defined in catalog/ JSON files, not hardcoded
• GitHub releases: Assets hosted at data-v0.1.0 tag, downloaded at build time
• DuckDB index: 277K-row filtered inventory with files and photo_urls tables, queryable in-browser
• Static-first: Pre-rendered HTML + JS, deployed to Netlify

Key assets: DuckDB inventory (~15 MB), PMTiles maps (~1.6 GB), photo bundles (~15 MB each)

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Commands

Command	Purpose
npm run dev	Dev server
npm run build	Production build
npm run check	Type checks
npm run lint	Format + lint
npm run data:download	Fetch GitHub release assets
npm run inventory:duckdb	Rebuild DuckDB index
npm run release:data	Full release pipeline
npm run release:check	Validate release manifest

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Releasing Data

Single command to rebuild the DuckDB index, resample photos from the archive, upload assets to GitHub Releases, and run validation:

npm run release:data              # Full release
npm run release:data -- --dry-run # Preview without uploading

Prerequisites

• Archive mounted at /media/robin/foss4lh1/david-lovelace-archive/
• npm install completed
• gh CLI authenticated

Checklist Before Pushing

• npm run release:data — completes without errors
• npm run format && npm run lint && npm run check — passes
• npm run build — production build succeeds
• gh release view data-v0.1.0 — both DuckDB + photo zips uploaded

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Directory Layout

src/              SvelteKit routes, components, styles
catalog/          Manifests: datasets.json, releases.json
scripts/          Photo sampling, audit, data download, release tooling
static/data/      Downloaded assets (git-ignored)
docs/             Architecture, data policy, contributing notes

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Development Workflow

1. Feature branches: Create PR, request review, merge to main
2. Type safety: Run npm run check before pushing
3. Code style: Pre-commit hooks auto-format; manually run npm run format if needed
4. CI/CD: GitHub Actions runs on every push; Netlify deploys on success

Contributing

Want to contribute or ask a question? Get in touch online (requires signing up for a GitHub account):

• Report bugs or suggest improvements: Open an issue
• Start a discussion: GitHub Discussions

Contributions welcome — especially data processing, mapping, and historical metadata.

License & Data Policy

See docs/data-policy.md for licensing and collection terms.