IP Geolocation & Mapping App

A lightweight Express.js web app that resolves an IP address to geographical coordinates and dynamically renders an interactive OpenStreetMap embed.

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🚀 Features

• Dual API Integration: Uses country.is for IP-to-coordinates and OpenStreetMap for mapping.
• Interactive Map Iframe: Embeds OpenStreetMap directly for native panning/zooming, with coordinates updated dynamically via URL string modifications.
• Data Sanitization: Pre-cleans external API data on the server side before passing payloads to EJS templates.
• Dockerized: Fully containerized for instant, consistent environment setup.

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🛠️ Architecture & Data Flow

The project showcases two architectural patterns for handling dependent API workflows:

1. Current Architecture: The Frontend "Bridge"

Splits the workflow into two distinct steps, using the client UI to pass state:

1. /find-me (Server): Takes the IP, fetches coordinates from api.country.is, cleans the data, and sends it to index.ejs.
2. The "Bridge" (Frontend): Receives the coordinates and populates a hidden form. The user clicks a button to submit it.
3. /map-me (Server): Reads the form coordinates, calculates the map bounding box (bbox), creates the OpenStreetMap iframe URL, and re-renders the final view.

2. Alternative Architecture: Backend API Chaining

Consolidates the flow into a single server-side request lifecycle:

POST "/find-me" ──> 1. Get IP input ──> 2. Fetch data from api.country.is ──> 3. Extract coordinates ──> 4. IF valid -> Calculate bounding box & generate OpenStreetMap URL ELSE -> Set map link to null ──> 5. Send combined data (IP, country, map link) back in a single view render

🐳 Docker Setup

1. Build the image:

docker build -t ip-geolocation-app .

2. Run the container:

docker run -p 3000:3000 ip-geolocation-app

3. Access the app: Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000.

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🔧 Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js, EJS
• DevOps: Docker
• APIs: country.is & OpenStreetMap API

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🛠️ Next Up: The "To-Do" List (Future Upgrades)

No project is ever truly finished! Here is what I found as suggestions that could have made this app more robust:

• Adding a Brain (Caching with Redis): Upstream APIs can get grumpy or rate-limit us. Integrating a Redis cache will let the app remember previously searched IPs, making repeat lookups lightning-fast.
• Bulletproofing the Inputs: Adding strict validation to stop weird formatting or broken IP strings before they even hit the server.
• Writing the Tests I Skipped: Setting up an automated testing suite with Jest and Supertest to make sure a future update doesn’t accidentally break the routes.