Beakon is designed to be a self-host location sharing webserver. Beakon aims to leak as little data as possible and uses mostly self-contained libraries and local database files. Where possible, it will reference local files and not reach out over any network. One area where this is not yet easy, is map tiling images.
Run the setup script to get started:
./setup.shThis will:
- Check prerequisites (Python 3.8+, sqlite3)
- Create a virtual environment and install dependencies
- Generate a SECRET_KEY
- Prompt for Mapbox API key (optional, maps won't work without it)
- Create config.cfg
- Initialize the database
- Optionally populate test data and install systemd service
After setup, start the server:
source .venv/bin/activate
python -c "import sys; sys.path.insert(0, 'src'); from app import app; app.run()"Open https://localhost:5000 in your browser.
To disable registration after creating your account, edit config.cfg and set REGISTRATION_ENABLED = False.
This is completely built in my little spare time as a project to learn flask. This is my first flask project. This should not be used public facing, and if it is used public facing, disable registration once you have setup accounts.
Registered users are assumed to be good actors.
flask
flask_sqlalchemy
flask_login
pyOpenSSL
[mapbox]
GPSLogger is an open source android app that can automatically send requests to update your location in Beakon.
In GPSLogger you can use the 'Log to custom URL' feature to update your location in the background. The URL endpoing is /api/recordlocation.
The request should be sent as a json payload in the following format with the following headers:
Headers:
Content-Type: application/json
username: [username]
secret: [API Key created from account page]
Body:
{"lat":"%LAT","lon":"%LON","acc":"%ACC","batt":"%BATT"}
Use the date picker above the map on the dashboard or map view to view locations from a specific day. The date picker allows you to select any date and see all recorded locations for that day as a connected path.
Points that are close together in both time and space are hidden to reduce clutter. A point is hidden if it is less than 5 minutes AND less than 50 meters from the previous point.
The map displays a color-coded path connecting your locations:
- Blue markers and lines indicate the most recent locations
- Green markers and lines indicate older locations
- Recent path segments are drawn as solid lines
- Older path segments (beyond the first few) are drawn as dashed lines
- Clicking any marker shows the exact timestamp in a popup
The map automatically refreshes to check for new locations, but only recenters on new data. If you pan or zoom the map, your view is preserved when no new location data has arrived.
A speedometer view is available at /speed for visualizing current travel speed.