Bernie In Places

An app that accidentally went viral! Read the story in WIRED here

Install

First, create a python virtual environment, and install all of the depenedencies.

python3 -m venv ve
source ve/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Next, create a google cloud platform project with Street View Static API access (you will need a credit card to set this up)

https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/street-view-image-backend.googleapis.com

Set the following environment variables by adding the following lines to your .bash_profile, .zshrc, etc:

export API_URL='https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/streetview'
export KEY='YOUR-MAPS-STREETVIEW-KEY'
export SECRET='YOUR-GOOGLE-SECRET'

You might want to rename the variables to not conflict with existing ones.

Running

To run the web application locally

flask run

and, visit http://localhost:5000

For production deployment, I used gunicorn.

Since the site is down now, you can also use images.py as a command-line bernie meme creation tool with

python images.py 'FILENAME.jpg' 'LOCATION'

If you plan on exceeding the rate limits or call cap, make sure to sign the url with -s or --sign (this also happens by default). If you're just doing this for fun, or want to look at a request url without the signature, you can use -n or --no-sign.

Procfile and Aptfile are required to deploy with Heroku

Contribute!

I'd like to make a self-sustaining version of this site that automatically tracks crowdfunding vs api/other site costs and pulls core functionality when funding dips below cost, bringing it back when funding returns. Check out the idea and contribute to the discussion!

Also join me in Discussions to discuss the future of the site. We'll be maintaining an aesthetically and functionally identical version of the original viral site, and another souped-up version with all the features requested. Backend optimizations like caching can go in the original version. Still trying to decide which version should be main

PRs and issues welcome!

Please don't deploy without permission! I'm working on figuring out the proper licensing and attributions for others to be able to deploy.

Licensing

This site is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License

THANKS