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OpenTreeNap is a modernized, Docker-based development environment derived from the original OpenTreeMap platform, with a focus on collaborative urban tree mapping.

Born in Naples (Napoli), Italy 🇮🇹, the project aims to give the historical OpenTreeMap codebase a contemporary technical environment while keeping it useful for experimentation and urban-forestry projects in Naples and beyond.

Status: active modernization and development project.
OpenTreeNap is not yet intended as a production-ready public deployment.

OpenTreeNap was born from two ideas: preserving and modernizing the historical OpenTreeMap platform, and exploring how open-source urban-forestry tools can support tree mapping in Naples.

The name combines OpenTreeMap with Napoli.

Naples is the project's home and inspiration, but OpenTreeNap is not intended to be limited to one city. The goal is to keep the platform reusable for other communities, researchers, developers and urban-forestry initiatives.

The current development environment supports:

• interactive tree maps
• trees and planting sites
• tree detail panels
• species data
• OpenStreetMap basemaps
• PostgreSQL/PostGIS spatial data
• Mapnik/Windshaft tile rendering
• PNG tiles and UTFGrid interaction
• Leaflet map interaction
• Django administration
• persistent Docker storage

A real development instance has been created and tested at /napoli/map/ on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 VPS.

The complete tree-rendering path has been validated:

PostgreSQL/PostGIS → OpenTreeMap/Django → OTM Tiler → Windshaft/Mapnik → PNG + UTFGrid → Leaflet → interactive tree markers

Persisted trees can be rendered on the map and selected to display their details.

The Docker stack has also been validated from a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 VPS and fresh Git clone with completely new Docker volumes, including PostgreSQL initialization, Redis, Django startup, Celery, static-file collection, OTM Tiler health checks, Google Maps configuration, manual tree creation and a 638-row Bulk Uploader import.

The complete, VPS-tested Italian installation procedure is available in INSTALL_IT.md. It covers Ubuntu 24.04, Docker, environment configuration, Google Maps, instance creation and the Bulk Uploader.

The historical tiler intentionally runs in an isolated legacy Node.js environment because its Windshaft/Mapnik dependency chain is not directly compatible with current Node.js releases.

OpenTreeNap currently uses:

• Python 3.10
• Django 3.2
• PostgreSQL 14
• PostGIS 3.x
• Redis 6
• Celery 5
• Gunicorn
• Node.js 14 for the main frontend
• Webpack 1
• Node.js 6 for the legacy OTM Tiler
• Windshaft
• Mapnik
• Leaflet
• Docker Compose

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/nicoali/OpenTreeNap.git
cd OpenTreeNap

Create the local environment file:

cp .env.modern-v4.1.example .env.modern-v4.1

Edit .env.modern-v4.1 and replace placeholder values with your local configuration and secrets.

The real .env.modern-v4.1 is excluded from Git and must never be committed.

Check Docker:

chmod +x modern-v4.1.sh
./modern-v4.1.sh doctor

Build:

./modern-v4.1.sh build

Start OpenTreeNap:

./modern-v4.1.sh up

Check the containers:

./modern-v4.1.sh status

Run the backend health check:

./modern-v4.1.sh smoke

A healthy backend returns a response similar to:

{"status": "ok", "database": "ok"}

Create a local administrator with:

./modern-v4.1.sh superuser

The historical OpenTreeMap renderer is integrated directly into the repository under otm-tiler/.

For local development the browser-visible tile endpoint and host port are configured with:

OTM_TILE_HOST=//localhost:4000
OTM_TILER_HTTP_PORT=4000

OTM_TILER_HTTP_PORT controls the host port published by Docker, while the tiler continues to listen on port 4000 inside the container.

The tiler uses a dedicated restricted PostgreSQL account through:

OTM_TILER_DB_USER
OTM_TILER_DB_PASSWORD

Database configuration is handled by:

docker/configure-tiler-db.sh

Real database passwords must never be committed.

./modern-v4.1.sh doctor
./modern-v4.1.sh build
./modern-v4.1.sh up
./modern-v4.1.sh logs
./modern-v4.1.sh status
./modern-v4.1.sh check
./modern-v4.1.sh smoke
./modern-v4.1.sh superuser
./modern-v4.1.sh worker-up
./modern-v4.1.sh down

The command:

./modern-v4.1.sh reset

deletes the v4.1 Docker volumes and their persisted development data.

Do not use reset as a normal restart command.

Technical migration notes are retained in:

• MODERNIZATION.md
• MODERN_V2_NOTES.md
• MODERN_V3_NOTES.md
• MODERN_V4_1_NOTES.md

OpenTreeNap remains an active modernization project.

Areas still requiring additional work or validation include:

• production deployment configuration
• broader application workflow testing
• Celery/background-task validation
• remaining Django deprecations
• some historical geocoding integrations
• external Google Maps configuration where used
• additional frontend/browser compatibility testing

The currently working development environment should not yet be considered a completed production migration.

Never commit:

• .env.modern-v4.1
• database passwords
• Django secret keys
• API keys
• private SSH keys
• external service credentials

Only example configuration without real credentials should be versioned.

OpenTreeNap is based on and derived from OpenTreeMap, the open-source collaborative platform for tree inventory, ecosystem-services calculations, urban forestry analysis and community engagement.

The original OpenTreeMap code and copyright notices remain attributed to their respective authors, including Azavea, Inc.

OpenTreeNap does not claim authorship of the original OpenTreeMap codebase.

This repository contains modernization, compatibility and integration work built on top of the original project.

The original licensing information is preserved in LICENSE.

The OpenTreeMap codebase in this repository retains its applicable open-source licensing terms, including the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPLv3) contained in the repository.

Refer to the full LICENSE file for the applicable terms and copyright notices.

Open trees. Open data. Napoli.

From Naples to anywhere: modernizing OpenTreeMap while preserving its open-source roots.