The FreeGeo API is an open source geolocation API intended to help developers of smaller applications utilizing geocoding, searches, boundaries and other geo related tasks. The API is absolutely free to use, and completely open source.

This project is generously hosted by DigitalOcean at https://freegeoapi.org. You can find API docs, usage examples and details on contributing to the project there.

Current Version: 0.0.1

Release Date: November 1, 2015

Next Release: 31 December, 2015 - Version 1.0.0

• Change DB from MySQL to something more suitable like MongoDB or PostgreSQL. Needs discussion.
• Move logic for generating emails to separate controller. Also separate Mailgun creds.
• Develop a dashboard for app creators to manage credentials, register new apps, etc.
• Remove raw SQL and use Doctrine (or some other ORM) builder functionality.
• Separate credentials/api keys from standard logic.

• Translate the FreeGeo website and API responses to other languages.
• Add usage examples for more development languages (Java, JS, etc).
• Move all documentation to some type of storage, to get rid of each template file. This would include developing some logic to deliver that information when requested.
• Add logic to check status of API services on /status page

• Develop some sort of caching mechanism to improve performance.
• Figure out a better way to provide DB data other than .sql dumps.

Like most projects, the FreeGeo API is never finished. We are constantly making changes and updates to enhance the functionality, performance and security of the API. It is strongly encouraged that interested developers from anywhere in the world contribute to the project.

######Areas of Interest

There are three areas of primary interest on this project. Each area presents it's own unique challenges, and opportunities fr contribution. Experience with the Symfony2 framework is very useful, but not required. The entire API wa sbuilt as a tool for me (@YupItsZac) to learn the framework.

Backend

The API is built on the Symfony2 framework. This means that the bulk of the project is written in PHP. Interested in contributing on the backend? Great! We need your help. Experience with PHP, MVC structures, routing, etc would be ideal.

Frontend

For the FreeGEO API, we refer to the frontend as anything rendered in the browser. This means pages on the main website, emails the API delivers, etc. This area will utilize CSS, JS, and other frontend tools that might be added later on.

Documentation

This is a HUGE area for the project. We need clear usage documentation so developers know how to use the API and can see which endpoints are available. This documentation would be rather technical, so it might be useful if you have a background in technical writing but that is not required.

Usage Examples

Currently, usage examples are provided for each endpoint in PHP and Python. We would like to expand this to include more languages to make API access possible for most projects.

Translations

Right now, the FreeGeo API is only available in English. I'd like to expand this offering to as many languages as possible, but I need help! This website and the API responses would need translation. Interested in contributing here? Open an issue and we can discuss the best way to accomplish this.

Other Stuff

Don't want to help out in one of the areas above? No worries! The beauty of open source projects is that you can work on whatever your good at (or want to be good at). Think another area should be added? Let me know!

######How to Contribute

Fork the repo! That way you can play around with whatever changes you want to make without affecting this repo. After your changes have been made, tested and reviewed, submit a pull request to the staging branch.

Your new code will be reviewed again, tested again, then if it makes sense to move it to Master, it will be added to prod in the next release.

@nater1067 has put together a quick guide to getting setup with Symfony2 (that's what the FreeGeo API is based on) and Vagrant, using puppet. You can, of course, use whatever configuration you'd like, but I strongly reccommend setting up your local dev like I have for contributions to the FreeGeo API.

Special thanks to these guys for their help on the project!

• DigitalOcean has generously provided the hosting needed at no cost to us.
• GlobalSign helped us secure requests to the API with a free SSL certificate for a year.
• @arabek setup and configured our SSL with the appropriate rewrite for non-SSL requests.
• @HaxxonHax assisted with SSL installation and configuration.