geo-image.eu — the product at a glance
This page summarises the functional scope, usability, accessibility, security, scalability and future viability of geo-image.eu — for decision-makers who wish to carry out a well-founded assessment.
Download as PDF1What the application is
geo-image.eu is a multi-tenant map and location database. Staff or specialist units enter locations with descriptions, images and hiking routes; the content appears on an interactive map and in searchable lists. Each tenant runs under its own domain, with its own visual identity and strictly separated data — a single installation serves any number of authorities, businesses or organizations. Typical use cases are hiking and cycling route registers, directories of playgrounds or points of interest, reporting portals for location-based citizen tips, as well as protected-area and specialist data maps.
2Range of functions
Places with multilingual names and automatic translation, image upload with a moderation procedure, GPX hiking routes with elevation analysis, custom geo layers (points, lines, areas — uploadable or drawn directly on the map), category and attribute filters, proximity and full-text search. Visibility private, shared or public; fine-grained sharing with individual users, other tenants or as a network of friends. A five-tier role model, a reporting and ticketing system, statistics, user management, and optionally a pricing and invoicing system. Core functions can be switched on and off per installation without touching the source code.
3User experience
The application is based on current technology (Next.js 16, React 19), is server-side rendered and therefore fast and search-engine-friendly. It is fully responsive from smartphone to large screen and can be used as an installable app (PWA) without the detour via an app store. Light and dark mode adapt automatically. 28 languages, including Cyrillic and Greek script, are available; an automatic guard prevents a language from being delivered incompletely. The map material comes from a dedicated server, not from a third-party provider — without third-party usage fees and without passing on data.
4Accessibility
geo-image.eu is systematically prepared for accessibility: full keyboard operation including file uploads and map search, a skip link to the content, a fully featured list view as a text alternative to the map, image descriptions for screen readers, announceable error messages, semantic structure, contrasts at AA level and visible focus indication. Automated checks in the development process safeguard what has been achieved. A formal audit by an external body in accordance with BITV 2.0 / WCAG 2.1 AA may be required for publication depending on tender conditions. To determine this, please review the requirement specification of the contracting authority and the legal situation of the country concerned. The technical prerequisites for this are in place.
5Security
The source code contains no analytics, tracking or telemetry components — verifiable, not merely assured. The safeguarding is multi-layered: the publicly reachable database roles have no access to any table; functions with elevated privileges are reserved for the server and internally check ownership and tenant. Added to this are a strict Content Security Policy with nonce and HSTS, secure upload validation with genuine image decoding, defence against XML entity attacks with GPX, rate limiting with forgery-resistant IP detection and two-factor authentication. The audit log is tamper-proof: a database trigger makes entries immutable, the origin is recorded, and a retention period is automatically enforced. Several documented security reviews are available with no critical findings.
6Scalability
The application is designed for growth and the critical bottlenecks have been addressed: server-side map clustering that keeps the data volume small even with tens of thousands of locations and does not silently lose markers; a sitemap split by language for search engine indexing that scales beyond the limits of a single sitemap; an image size cap that keeps disk requirements calculable (around 5 GB for 10,000 locations with images); a geo database with a spatial index and viewport-based loading. A new tenant is a data record — no second installation, no second database. This keeps the operating effort per customer low.
7Future viability
geo-image.eu uses current major versions of all core components and is demonstrably maintained. All mandatory components are open source and can be operated in your own data centre; the reference installation uses exclusively services within the EU and manages without paid third-party services. The data is held in a standard database and in standard file formats — an export is possible at any time, and there is no vendor lock-in at the data level. For public clients, the licence additionally provides for source code escrow and the German public-sector IT contract terms (EVB-IT). Backup, restore, server migration and location-independent monitoring are documented and proven.
8To be clarified before adoption
These points are not hidden weaknesses but an honest list of what needs to be checked or contractually settled before productive operation: the proprietary license (terms, source code access and maintenance settled contractually, Escrow/EVB-IT provided for); continuation and representation in an emergency (a handover manual is available, response times settled contractually); the formal accessibility audit that may need to be carried out depending on the tender and national law; the tenant separation enforced in the application layer and safeguarded by tests; the guaranteed gap-free logging on database failure that was deliberately not implemented; and the required operational expertise in Docker, PostgreSQL and reverse proxy operation. A provider that discloses its limits is the more dependable partner.