Karta

Karta is a reusable SDK for building public-interest geospatial layer platforms — a domain-agnostic layer model, generic map rendering, and React hooks that any dataset can be wired into, with no accounts and no tracking beyond cookieless page views. @karta/core, @karta/map, and @karta/react are the SDK itself; it doesn't encode any particular geography or story.

packages/app and packages/web are a reference implementation proving the SDK out end-to-end with one real, published domain: Gauteng spatial legacy, mapping apartheid-era spatial planning legacy across South African cities. That's just the first domain built on the SDK — a different one could map flood risk, public amenities, or anything else. See docs/domains/gauteng-spatial-legacy.md for what it covers, why it exists, and how its per-metro area data is classified.

• docs/building-a-domain.md — how to build a new domain on the SDK, from scratch, using a second illustrative example
• docs/domains/gauteng-spatial-legacy.md — the reference implementation's domain, scope, and per-metro area classification
• data-pipeline/README.md — how to (re-)run the data pipeline
• packages/core/README.md — @karta/core, the domain-agnostic layer model and geodata utilities
• packages/map/README.md — @karta/map, generic map rendering components and UI primitives
• packages/react/README.md — @karta/react, generic React hooks (dark-mode detection, theme preference)
• packages/app/README.md — @karta/app, the Gauteng-specific domain data and constants

React + TypeScript SSR app (React Router framework mode on Vite, react-leaflet, Zustand, Zod, CSS Modules) split into five npm workspace packages — @karta/core, @karta/map, @karta/react, @karta/app, and @karta/web — plus a Node/TypeScript offline data pipeline (public OSRM for routing, Overpass API + open data portals for transit, no Docker/GDAL required), and Cloudflare Workers for edge rendering and asset delivery. No accounts and no tracking beyond cookieless page views.

npm install
npm run dev --workspace @karta/web

CONTRIBUTING.md covers the full setup, the project conventions, and how to propose data changes. SECURITY.md covers reporting a suspected vulnerability privately. CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md sets expectations for respectful, inclusive participation in project spaces.

AGPL-3.0 — a public-interest data project; forks that host a modified version must share their source too. See ATTRIBUTIONS.md for data and software attributions and PRIVACY.md for the privacy policy.