Field Finders API

A RESTful Flask API that provides access to Seattle Parks and Recreation park facility data. This API powers the Field Finders frontend application, allowing users to search and discover sports facilities and park features across Seattle.

🌟 Features

• Comprehensive Park Data: Access to Seattle Parks and Recreation facility data
• Flexible Search: Query all features or filter by specific feature type
• RESTful Design: Clean, intuitive API endpoints
• CORS Enabled: Ready for frontend integration
• JSON Responses: All endpoints return structured JSON data
• Location Data: Includes coordinates (latitude/longitude) for mapping features

🛠 Tech Stack

• Python 3.12+
• Flask 3.0.3 - Web framework
• SQLite3 - Lightweight database
• Flask-CORS - Cross-origin resource sharing
• python-dotenv - Environment variable management

📋 Prerequisites

• Python 3.12 or higher
• pip (Python package manager)
• Virtual environment (recommended)

🚀 Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/clair3st/fieldfinders-api.git
cd fieldfinders-api

2. Create Virtual Environment

python3 -m venv venv

3. Activate Virtual Environment

On macOS/Linux:

source venv/bin/activate

On Windows:

venv\Scripts\activate

4. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

⚙️ Configuration

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory:

DB_URI=parks.db
FLASK_DEBUG=False
PORT=8000

Configuration Options:

• DB_URI: Path to SQLite database file (default: parks.db)
• FLASK_DEBUG: Enable/disable debug mode (default: False)
• PORT: Port number to run the server (default: 8000)

🗄️ Database Setup

On first deployment or initial setup, you must populate the database from the CSV file:

python3 utils/cleanse-raw-data.py

This script:

• Creates a SQLite database (if it doesn't exist)
• Creates the ParkFeatures table
• Imports park feature data from utils/Seattle_Parks_and_Recreation_Parks_Features.csv
• Validates and processes the data

Note: The CSV file contains raw data from the Seattle Open Data Portal.

Database Schema

The ParkFeatures table contains the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
id	INTEGER	Primary key (auto-increment)
name	TEXT	Park name
feature_desc	TEXT	Description of the feature (e.g., "Basketball Court", "Tennis Court")
hours	TEXT	Operating hours
xpos	REAL	Longitude coordinate
ypos	REAL	Latitude coordinate
location	TEXT	Physical location/address

🏃 Running the Application

Development Mode

# Activate virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate

# Run with Flask CLI
flask run

# Or run directly
python app.py

The API will be available at http://localhost:8000

Production Mode

Set FLASK_DEBUG=False in your .env file and use a production WSGI server like Gunicorn:

pip install gunicorn
gunicorn -w 4 -b 0.0.0.0:8000 app:app

📡 API Documentation

Base URL

• Production: https://clair3st.pythonanywhere.com/
• Local Development: http://localhost:8000/

Endpoints

GET /

Returns API information and available endpoints.

Response:

Field Finders. This site is a prototype API for park facility data.

---

GET /features/all

Retrieves all park features from the database.

Response:

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Green Lake Park",
    "feature_desc": "Basketball Court",
    "hours": "5:00 AM - 11:30 PM",
    "xpos": -122.327,
    "ypos": 47.679,
    "location": "7201 E Green Lake Dr N, Seattle, WA 98115"
  },
  ...
]

Example Request:

curl http://localhost:8000/features/all

---

GET /features/<feature>

Search for park features by feature type. Returns matching features grouped by location.

Parameters:

• feature (path parameter, required): Feature type to search for (e.g., "basketball", "tennis", "baseball")

Response:

[
  {
    "xpos": -122.327,
    "ypos": 47.679,
    "name": "Green Lake Park",
    "feature_desc": "Basketball Court",
    "location": "7201 E Green Lake Dr N, Seattle, WA 98115",
    "id": 1,
    "hours": "5:00 AM - 11:30 PM"
  },
  ...
]

Example Requests:

# Search for basketball courts
curl http://localhost:8000/features/basketball

# Search for tennis courts
curl http://localhost:8000/features/tennis

# Search for baseball fields
curl http://localhost:8000/features/baseball

Note: The search is case-insensitive and uses pattern matching. For example, searching for "ball" will match "Basketball", "Baseball", "Volleyball", etc.

---

Error Responses

All errors are returned as JSON:

{
  "code": 404,
  "name": "Not Found",
  "description": "The requested URL was not found on the server."
}

Common HTTP status codes:

• 200 - Success
• 404 - Resource not found
• 500 - Internal server error

📁 Project Structure

fieldfinders-api/
├── app.py                          # Main Flask application
├── parks.db                        # SQLite database (gitignored)
├── requirements.txt                # Python dependencies
├── README.md                       # This file
├── LICENSE                         # MIT License
├── .env                            # Environment variables (gitignored)
├── utils/
│   ├── cleanse-raw-data.py        # Database population script
│   └── Seattle_Parks_and_Recreation_Parks_Features.csv  # Raw data
└── venv/                           # Virtual environment (gitignored)

🚢 Deployment

The API is currently deployed on PythonAnywhere.

📝 TODO

• Filter CSV import to only include relevant features
• Add input validation and sanitization
• Add comprehensive error handling
• Implement response caching
• Write unit tests

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2023 Claire Gatenby

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Data provided by the City of Seattle Open Data Portal
• Inspired by tutorial from Nordic APIs
• Frontend application: Field Finders React

🔗 Links

• Frontend Application: Field Finders React
• Live API: https://clair3st.pythonanywhere.com/
• Data Source: Seattle Open Data Portal