dc-locationspy

📍 Location Spy

Find images of any location through time. Aggregates photos from modern sources and historical archives to show how places have changed over decades.

Features

🔍 Multi-Source Search

Search across 10+ image sources simultaneously:

• Modern: Google, Bing, Flickr, Unsplash
• Real Estate: Zillow, Redfin
• Historical: Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons, Internet Archive, NYPL
• Maps: Historical maps and surveys

📅 Timeline View

See images arranged chronologically to visualize how a location changed over time.

🌐 3D View

Explore images positioned on an interactive 3D globe using Three.js.

🎯 Geo-Search

Search by coordinates with configurable radius (1-50 km) for precise location matching.

📜 Historical Archives

Automatic integration with:

• Library of Congress digital collections
• Internet Archive’s historical photos
• Wikimedia Commons
• New York Public Library

Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 16 (App Router)
• Language: TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS 4
• 3D: Three.js (dynamic import, client-only)
• APIs: Multiple image search APIs

Getting Started

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run development server
npm run dev

# Open http://localhost:3000

Usage

1. Enter an address, city, or landmark
2. Select which sources to search
3. Toggle geo-search for coordinate-based filtering
4. Toggle “Photos only” to filter out icons/illustrations
5. View results as Grid, Timeline, or 3D globe

Search Options

Option	Description
Photos only	Filter out icons, logos, and illustrations
Geo-search	Search by coordinates instead of text
Radius	How far from coordinates to search (1-50 km)

Example Searches

• Keaau, Hawaii - See how a small town changed over decades
• Empire State Building, New York - Historical construction photos
• 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - Historical images of the White House

Project Structure

src/
├── app/
│   ├── page.tsx         # Main search interface
│   └── api/
│       └── search/      # Image search API
├── components/
│   ├── ImageGrid.tsx    # Grid view
│   ├── Timeline.tsx     # Chronological view
│   ├── View3D.tsx       # 3D globe view
│   ├── SearchForm.tsx   # Search input
│   └── SourceFilters.tsx
└── lib/

Sources

Images are sourced from public APIs and archives:

• Google Images API
• Bing Image Search
• Flickr API
• Library of Congress API
• Internet Archive
• Wikimedia Commons API

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See how places change through time 🕰️