# ![Spothole](/webassets/img/logo.png)

Spothole is a utility to aggregate "spots" from amateur radio DX clusters and xOTA spotting sites, and provide an open JSON API as well as a website to browse the data.

![Screenshot](/images/screenshot.png)

While there are several other web-based interfaces to DX clusters, and sites that aggregate spots from various outdoor activity programmes for amateur radio, Spothole differentiates itself by supporting a large number of data sources, and by being "API first" rather than just providing a web front-end. This allows other software to be built on top of it.

The API is deliberately well-defined with an OpenAPI specification and auto-generated API documentation. The API delivers spots in a consistent format regardless of the data source, freeing developers from needing to know how each individual data source presents its data.

Spothole itself is also open source, Public Domain licenced code that anyone can take and modify.

Supported data sources include DX Clusters, the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), the APRS Internet Service (APRS-IS), POTA, SOTA, WWFF, GMA, WWBOTA, HEMA, Parks 'n' Peaks, ZLOTA, WOTA, BOTA, LLOTA, WWTOTA, the UK Packet Repeater Network, NG3K, and any site based on the xOTA software by nischu.

![Screenshot](/images/screenshot2.png)

![Screenshot](/images/screenshot3.png)

## Accessing the public version

You can access the public version's web interface at [https://spothole.app](https://spothole.app), and see [https://spothole.app/apidocs](https://spothole.app/apidocs) for the API details.

This is a Progressive Web App, so you can also "install" it to your Android or iOS device by accessing it in Chrome or Safari respectively, and following the menu-driven process for installing PWAs.

## Embedding Spothole in another website

You can embed Spothole in another website, e.g. for use as part of a ham radio custom dashboard.

URL parameters can be used to trigger an "embedded" mode which hides the headers, footers and settings. In this mode, you provide configuration for the various filter and display options via additional URL parameters. Any settings that the user has set for Spothole are ignored. This is so that the embedding site can select, for example, their choice of dark mode or SIG filters, which will not impact how Spothole appears when the user accesses it directly. Effectively, it becomes separate to their normal Spothole settings.

Setting `embedded` to true is important for the rest of the settings to be applied; otherwise, the user's defaults will be used in preference to the URL params.

These are supplied with the URL to the page you want to embed, for example for an embedded version of the band map in dark mode, use `https://spothole.app/bands?embedded=true&dark-mode=true`. For an embedded version of the main spots/home page in the system light/dark mode, use `https://spothole.app/?embedded=true`. For dark mode showing 70cm TOTA spots only, use `https://spothole.app/?embedded=true&dark-mode=true&sig=TOTA&band=70cm`. Providing no URL params causes the page to be loaded in the normal way it would when accessed directly in the user's browser.

The supported parameters are as follows. Generally these match the equivalent parameters in the real Spothole API, where a mapping exists.

| Name           | Allowed Values          | Default | Example                 | Description                                                                                                                                                           |
|----------------|-------------------------|---------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `embedded`     | `true`, `false`         | `false` | `?embedded=true`        | Enables embedded mode.                                                                                                                                                |
| `color-scheme` | `light`, `dark`, `auto` | `auto`  | `?color-scheme=dark`    | Forces light or dark mode in preference to the operating system default.                                                                                              |
| `time-zone`    | `UTC`, `local`          | `UTC`   | `?time-zone=local`      | Sets times to be in UTC or local time.                                                                                                                                |
| `limit`        | 10, 25, 50, 100         | 50      | `?limit=50`             | Sets the number of spots that will be displayed on the main spots page                                                                                                |
| `limit`        | 25, 50, 100, 200, 500   | 100     | `?limit=100`            | Sets the number of alerts that will be displayed on the alerts page                                                                                                   |
| `max_age`      | 300, 600, 1800, 3600    | 1800    | `?max_age=1800`         | Sets the maximum age of spots displayed on the map and bands pages, in seconds.                                                                                       |
| `band`         | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?band=20m,40m`         | Sets the list of bands that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.         |
| `sig`          | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?sig=POTA,SOTA,NO_SIG` | Sets the list of SIGs that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.          |
| `source`       | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?source=Cluster`       | Sets the list of sources that will be shown on any spot or alert pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.              |
| `mode_type`    | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?mode_type=PHONE,CW`   | Sets the list of mode types that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.    |
| `dx_continent` | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?dx_continent=NA,SA`   | Sets the list of DX Continents that will be shown on any spot or alert pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.        |
| `de_continent` | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?de_continent=EU`      | Sets the list of DE Continents that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface. |

More will be added soon to allow customisation of filters and other display properties.

## Writing your own client

One of the key strengths of Spothole is that the API is well-defined and open to anyone to use. This means you can build your own software that uses data from Spothole.

As well as the main API endpoints to fetch spots and alerts, with various possible query parameters, there are also Server-Sent Events (SSE) API endpoints to receive a live feed, plus various utility lookup endpoints for things like callsign and park data.

Various approaches exist to writing your own client, but in general:

* Refer to the API docs. These are built on an OpenAPI definition file (`/webassets/apidocs/openapi.yml`), which you can automatically use to generate a client skeleton using various software.
* Call the main "spots" or "alerts" API endpoints to get the data you want. Apply filters if necessary.
* Call the "options" API to get an idea of which bands, modes etc. the server knows about. You might want to do that first before calling the spots/alerts APIs, to allow you to populate your filters correctly.
* Refer to the provided HTML/JS interface for a reference on different approaches. For example, the "map" and "bands" pages simply query the main spot API on a timer, whereas the main/spots page combines this approach with using the Server-Sent Events (SSE) endpoint to update live.
* Let me know if you get stuck, I'm happy to help!

## Running your own copy

If you want to run a copy of Spothole with different configuration settings than the main instance, you can download it and run it on your own local machine or server.

To download and set up Spothole on a Debian server, run the following commands. Other operating systems will likely be similar.

```bash
git clone ssh://git@git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole.git
cd spothole
python3 -m venv ./.venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
deactivate
cp config-example.yml config.yml
```

Then edit `config.yml` in your text editor of choice to set up the software as you like it. Mostly, this will involve enabling or disabling the various providers of spot and alert data.

By default, all outdoor programme providers are enabled, as is one cluster node and the NG3K DXpedition data. The RBN spot providers are turned off by default due to the volume of traffic from CW/RTTY/FT8 skimmers, and the APRS and Packet spot providers are off by default on the assumption that Spothole users want a spot with a human at the other end of it, but all can be easily re-enabled.

`config.yml` has some entries for QRZ.com username & password, and Clublog API keys. If provided, these allow Spothole to retrieve more information about DX spots, such as the country their callsign corresponds to. The software will work just fine without them, but you may find a few country flags etc. are less accurate or missing.

Clublog API keys are free, but you'll need to get your own by submitting a helpdesk ticket and explaining what you'll use it for. The admin team are happy with the rate of requests made by my Spothole server, so unless you change the source code of yours to radically increase the rate of querying Clublog, I'm sure they will be fine with your server too.

Free QRZ.com accounts offer only limited access to the site's data via their API. You'll have to sign up for one of their "XML Data Subscriber" plans to gain access to the full data, but if you're on a free account then the software will get what information it can.

Once you're happy with the content of `config.yml`, you can proceed to running the software.

To run the software this time and any future times you want to run it directly from the command line:

```bash
source .venv/bin/activate
python3 spothole.py
```

The software can take a few seconds to start up, mostly because it is downloading an updated file to match callsigns to countries. This is normal, don't panic!

If you see some errors on startup, check your configuration, e.g. in case you have specified a port for the web server that is already in use by something else.

### Multiple cluster nodes with different settings

Dan, S50U has written in with his Spothole cluster settings. He is using a cluster node which provides RBN spots, and uses different SSIDs on his callsign to get different settings when logged into the same cluster node. For example:

```
  -
    class: "DXCluster"
    name: "S50CLX"
    enabled: true
    host: "s50clx.si"
    port: 41112
    login_prompt: "login: "
    login_callsign: "callsign-10"
```

Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-10" and execute the following commands:

`CLEAR/SPOTS ALL` (delete all previous filters)<br/>
`UNSET/ANN` (stop announce messages)<br/>
`UNSET/WCY` (stop wcy messages)<br/>
`UNSET/WWV` (stop wwv messages)<br/>
`SET/DX` (enable human DX spots)

```
  -
    class: "DXCluster"
    name: "RBN CW"
    enabled: true
    host: "s50clx.si"
    port: 41112
    login_prompt: "login: "
    login_callsign: "callsign-11"
    allow_rbn_spots: true
    enabled-by-default-in-web-ui: false
```

Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-11" and execute the following commands:

`CLEAR/SPOTS ALL` (delete all previous filters)<br/>
`UNSET/ANN` (stop announce messages)<br/>
`UNSET/WCY` (stop wcy messages)<br/>
`UNSET/WWV` (stop wwv messages)<br/>
`UNSET/DX` (stop human DX spots)<br/>
`SET/SKIMMER CW` (enable CW RBN spots)

```
  -
    class: "DXCluster"
    name: "RBN RTTY"
    enabled: true
    host: "s50clx.si"
    port: 41112
    login_prompt: "login: "
    login_callsign: "callsign-12"
    allow_rbn_spots: true
    enabled-by-default-in-web-ui: false
```

Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-12" and execute the following commands:

`CLEAR/SPOTS ALL` (delete all previous filters)<br/>
`UNSET/ANN` (stop announce messages)<br/>
`UNSET/WCY` (stop wcy messages)<br/>
`UNSET/WWV` (stop wwv messages)<br/>
`UNSET/DX` (stop human DX spots)<br/>
`SET/SKIMMER RTTY` (enable RTTY RBN spots)

```
  -
    class: "DXCluster"
    name: "RBN FT4/8"
    enabled: true
    host: "s50clx.si"
    port: 41112
    login_prompt: "login: "
    login_callsign: "callsign-13"
    allow_rbn_spots: true
    enabled-by-default-in-web-ui: false
```

Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-13" and execute the following commands:

`CLEAR/SPOTS ALL` (delete all previous filters)<br/>
`UNSET/ANN` (stop announce messages)<br/>
`UNSET/WCY` (stop wcy messages)<br/>
`UNSET/WWV` (stop wwv messages)<br/>
`UNSET/DX` (stop human DX spots)<br/>
`SET/SKIMMER FT` (enable FT RBN spots)

For each callsign-SSID, we also specify our basic information with commands:

`SET/NAME Spothole10`, Spothole11... etc.<br/>
`SET/QTH Cerkno`<br/>
`SET/QRA JN66XD`<br/>
`SET/HOME S50CLX`

### systemd configuration

If you want Spothole to run automatically on startup on a Linux distribution that uses `systemd`, follow the instructions here. For distros that don't use `systemd`, or Windows/OSX/etc., you can find generic instructions for your OS online.

Create a file at `/etc/systemd/system/spothole.service`. Give it the following content, adjusting for the user you want to run it as and the directory in which you have installed it:

```
[Unit]
Description=Spothole
After=syslog.target network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=spothole
WorkingDirectory=/home/spothole/spothole
ExecStart=/home/spothole/spothole/.venv/bin/python /home/spothole/spothole/spothole.py --serve-in-foreground
Restart=on-abort

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```

Run the following:

```bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable spothole
sudo systemctl start spothole
```

Check the service has started up correctly with `sudo journalctl -u spothole -f`.

### nginx Reverse Proxy configuration

Web servers generally serve their pages from port 80. However, it's best not to serve Spothole's web interface directly on port 80, as that requires root privileges on a Linux system. It also and prevents us using HTTPS to serve a secure site, since Spothole itself doesn't directly support acting as an HTTPS server. The normal solution to this is to use a "reverse proxy" setup, where a general web server handles HTTP and HTTP requests (to port 80 & 443 respectively), then passes on the request to the back-end application (in this case Spothole). nginx is a common choice for this general web server.

To set up nginx as a reverse proxy that sits in front of Spothole, first ensure it's installed e.g. `sudo apt install nginx`, and enabled e.g. `sudo systemd enable nginx`.

Create a file at `/etc/nginx/sites-available/` called `spothole`. Give it the following contents, replacing `spothole.app` with the domain name on which you want to run Spothole. If you changed the port on which Spothole runs, update that on the "proxy_pass" line too.

```nginx
map $request_uri $xssorigin {
    ~^/api   *;
}

server {
    server_name spothole.app;

    # Wellknown area for Lets Encrypt
    location /.well-known/ {
        alias /var/www/html/.well-known/;
    }
    
    location / {
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Connection "";
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_hide_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin;
        add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin $xssorigin;
    }
}
```

One further change you might want to make to the file above is the `add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin` statement. This is what's used on
my own Spothole server to make sure that other third-party web-based software can get the data from my instance, and applies to any endpoint underneath `/api`. If you want
*your* Spothole instance to be set up the same way, so that others can write software in JavaScript that can access it,
leave this intact. But if you want your Spothole instance to only be usable by scripts running on the web server you write,
you can remove this line. (Note that this doesn't stop other people writing *non-web-based* software that accesses your
Spothole API&mdash;the enforcement of cross-origin headers only happens within the user's browser. If you need to lock your
instance down so that no-one else can access it with *any* software, that's an aspect of nginx or firewall config that you will need
to find help with elsewhere.)

Now, make a symbolic link to enable the site:

```bash
cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
sudo ln -sf ../sites-available/spothole
```

Test that your nginx config isn't broken using `nginx -t`. If it works, restart nginx with `sudo systemctl restart nginx`.

If you haven't already done so, set up a DNS entry to make sure requests for your domain name end up at the server that's running Spothole.

You should now be able to access the web interface by going to the domain from your browser.

Once that's working, [install certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/instructions?ws=nginx&os=snap) onto your server. Run it as root, and when prompted pick your domain name from the list. After a few seconds, it should successfully provision a certificate and modify your nginx config files automatically. You should then be able to access the site via HTTPS.

## Modifying the source code

Spothole is Public Domain licenced, so you can grab the source code and start modifying it for your own needs. Contributions of code back to the main repository are encouraged, but completely optional.

### Code structure

To navigate your way around the source code, this list may help.

*Python back-end code*

* `/core` - Core classes and scripts
* `/data` - Data storage classes
* `/spotproviders` - Classes providing spots by accessing the APIs of other services
* `/alertproviders` - Classes providing alerts by accessing the APIs of other services
* `/solarconditionsproviders` - Classes providing solar and propagation by accessing the APIs of other services
* `/server` - Classes for running Spothole's own web server

*Templates*

* `/templates` - Templates used for constructing Spothole's user-targeted HTML pages

*HTML/JS/CSS front-end code*

* `/webassets` - Root for static files served by the web server
* `/webassets/apidocs` - Contains the OpenAPI spec (`openapi.yml`)
* `/webassets/css` - CSS files used by the web front-end
* `/webassets/fa` - a copy of the FontAwesome library
* `/webassets/img` - image files used by the web front-end
* `/webassets/js` - JavaScript used by the web front-end

*Miscellaneous*

* `/` - Main script (`spothole.py`), pip `requirements.txt`, config, README, etc.
* `/images` - Image sources
* `/datafiles` - Local data sources (differentiated from the majority of data files which are loaded from URLs and cached in `/cache`)
* `/cache` - Directory where static-ish data downloaded from the internet is cached to avoid rapid re-requests, and where spot/alert data is cached so that it survives a software restart. Created on first run.

### Extending the server

Spothole is designed to be easily extensible. If you want to write your own spot provider, for example, simply add a module to the `spotproviders` package containing your class. (Currently, in order to be loaded correctly, the module (file) name should be the same as the class name, but lower case.)

Your class should extend "SpotProvider"; if it operates by polling an HTTP Server on a timer, it can instead extend "HTTPSpotProvider" where some of the work is done for you.

The class will need to implement a constructor that takes in the `provider_config` and provides it to the superclass constructor, while also taking any other config parameters it needs.

If you're extending the base `SpotProvider` class, you will need to implement `start()` and `stop()` methods that start and stop a separate thread which handles the provider's processing needs. The thread should call `submit()` or `submit_batch()` when it has one or more spots to report.

If you're extending the `HTTPSpotProvider` class, you will need to provide a URI to query and an interval to the superclass constructor. You'll then need to implement the `http_response_to_spots()` method which is called when new data is retrieved. Your implementation should then call `submit()` or `submit_batch()` when it has one or more spots to report.

When constructing spots, use the comments in the Spot class and the existing implementations as an example. All parameters are optional, but you will at least want to provide a `time` (which must be timezone-aware) and a `dx_call`.

Finally, simply add the appropriate config to the `spot_providers` section of `config.yml`, and your provider should be instantiated on startup.

The same approach as above is also used for alert providers.

## Thanks

As well as being my work, I have also gratefully received feature patches from Steven, M1SDH.

The project contains GeoJSON files for CQ and ITU zones, in the `/datafiles/` directory. These are MIT-licenced and, to my knowledge, created by HA8TKS for his CQ and ITU zone layers for Leaflet.

The project contains a self-hosted copy of Font Awesome's free library, in the `/webassets/fa/` directory. This is subject to Font Awesome's licence and is not covered by the overall licence declared in the `LICENSE` file. This approach was taken in preference to using their hosted kits due to the popularity of this project exceeding the page view limit for their free hosted offering.

The project contains a set of flag icons generated using the "Noto Color Emoji" font on a Debian system, in the `/webassets/img/flags/` directory.

The software uses a number of Python libraries as listed in `requirements.txt`, and a number of JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, Leaflet and Bootstrap. This project would not have been possible without these libraries, so many thanks to their developers.

Particular thanks go to country-files.com for providing country lookup data for amateur radio, to K0SWE for [this JSON-formatted DXCC data](https://github.com/k0swe/dxcc-json/), and to the developers of `pyhamtools` for making it easy to use country-files.com data as well as QRZ.com and Clublog lookup.

Amateur radio clusters, outdoor programmes, propagation data providers etc. are almost all volunteer-run services that make no or little profit, and are done for the love of amateur radio. Services like Spothole, which build on top of them, are truly standing on the shoulders of giants. None of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of many other people within the amaetur radio community.

The project's name was suggested by Harm, DK4HAA. Thanks!
