off-the-path

A web app for family road trips: enter a start and end (driving only for now), and it shows kid-friendly attractions along the route on a map. Starts with Germany (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern seed data), built to expand across Europe.

Stack

• Backend: FastAPI + SQLAlchemy 2.0 + GeoAlchemy2, PostgreSQL + PostGIS. Attractions "along the route" are found with a PostGIS corridor query (ST_DWithin + order by ST_LineLocatePoint). Routing/geocoding via OpenRouteService (driving-car), kept behind our own API so it can be swapped or self-hosted later. Until an ORS key is set, /route uses a straight line between the two points and start/end must be given as lat,lon (no geocoding).
• Frontend: (planned) Vite + React + MapLibre GL.
• API: auto OpenAPI/Swagger at /docs — the basis for the future phone app.

Backend — run locally

Needs a PostGIS database and an OpenRouteService API key.

cd backend
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env    # set DATABASE_URL + ORS_API_KEY
uvicorn app.main:app --reload

Postgres with PostGIS for local dev:

docker run -d --name otp-db -e POSTGRES_USER=offthepath -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=offthepath \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=offthepath -p 5432:5432 postgis/postgis:17-3.5

On first start the app enables PostGIS, creates the schema, and seeds the initial attractions.

Endpoints

• GET /api/health
• GET /api/attractions?country=DE&age=6
• GET /api/route?start=52.52,13.40&end=54.31,13.09&radius_km=20&age=6 (start/end are lat,lon; once an ORS key is set they also accept place names)

Deployment

Deployed from the mf-server repo (Ansible): a container behind Caddy at off-the-path.martinfaust.com, using the shared PostGIS instance (ensure_db), frontend served static with /api reverse-proxied to this backend.

Notes / TODO

• Websites for the seed attractions are not filled in yet.
• Add Alembic migrations once the schema settles.
• Cache computed routes to stay within the ORS free-tier quota.