Geometadata Plugin for Janeway

This plugin adds geospatial and temporal metadata support for articles (journals) and preprints (repositories) in Janeway.

Background

This plugin is part of the KOMET project ("Kompetenznetzwerk für das Management und die Erschließung von textbasierten Forschungsdaten"), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). It brings spatiotemporal metadata capabilities to the Janeway publishing platform, complementing existing work for Open Journal Systems (OJS).

The plugin builds on concepts and experience from the geoMetadata plugin for OJS. While geoMetadata targets OJS, this plugin implements equivalent functionality for Janeway, adapted to its plugin architecture and hook system. Geospatial metadata collected by this plugin and its OJS counterparts can be aggregated and made discoverable through OPTIMAP, a web portal for geospatial discovery of research articles based on open metadata.

Features

Spatial Metadata: Store geographic coverage as Well-Known Text (WKT) geometry
Temporal Metadata: Record time periods covered by research
Interactive Maps: Leaflet.js-based map display and editing interface
JSON API: GeoJSON endpoints for map data retrieval
Admin Integration: Edit geometadata from article/preprint management pages
Full-Page Map: Browse all articles/preprints with geographic metadata on a single map

Installation

Clone this repository into the Janeway src/plugins folder:

cd path/to/janeway/src/plugins
git clone https://github.com/GeoinformationSystems/janeway_geometadata geometadata

From the src directory, install the plugin and run migrations:

python3 manage.py install_plugins geometadata
python3 manage.py migrate

Restart your server (Apache, Passenger, etc.)
Enable the plugin via the Janeway manager interface

Dependencies

Janeway 1.7+ (tested with current main branch)
geopy ~2.4 (pip, MIT) - reverse geocoding
geomet ~1.1 (pip, Apache-2.0) - WKT/GeoJSON conversion
Leaflet.js 1.9.4 (bundled, BSD-2-Clause) - interactive maps
Leaflet.draw 1.0.4 (bundled, MIT) - drawing tools for geometry editing
leaflet-providers (bundled, BSD-2-Clause) - basemap provider definitions

Configuration

Settings are configurable per journal/repository via the manager at /plugins/geometadata/manager/. Press-level defaults apply to all journals/repositories and can be overridden per journal.

General Settings

Setting	Default	Description
Enable Geometadata Collection	off	Master switch for the plugin
Enable Spatial Metadata	on	Allow geographic location/area input
Enable Temporal Metadata	on	Allow time period input
Enable Map Page	on	Enable the aggregated map page (press-wide or journal-wide)
Require Geometadata on Submission	off	Require authors to provide geospatial metadata

Article Landing Page Display

Setting	Default	Description
Show Map on Article Pages	on	Display an interactive map on article/preprint pages
Show Temporal Coverage	on	Display temporal coverage (date range) on article pages
Show Place Names	on	Display place name labels alongside the map

Issue Page Display

Setting	Default	Description
Show Temporal Coverage on Issue Pages	on	Display aggregated temporal coverage on issue landing pages

Note: Issue page features require the issue_footer_block hook which is not present in standard Janeway. See Template Requirements below. The settings page will detect if the hook is missing and disable these settings with an explanatory message.

Downloads

Setting	Default	Description
Show GeoJSON Download Links	on	Show download links for geometadata in GeoJSON format on article pages, issue pages, and the journal-wide map page

HTML Metadata Embedding

Controls which metadata formats are embedded in the HTML <head> of article pages for harvesters and search engines. All embedding respects the Enable Spatial / Enable Temporal toggles — e.g., when temporal metadata is disabled, Schema.org output omits temporalCoverage but still includes spatialCoverage.

Setting	Default	Description
Dublin Core Coverage	on	Embed `DC.SpatialCoverage`, `DC.box`, `DC.temporal`, `DC.PeriodOfTime` meta tags
geo.* Meta Tags	on	Embed `geo.placename` meta tags
Schema.org Coverage (JSON-LD)	on	Embed Schema.org `spatialCoverage`/`temporalCoverage` as JSON-LD
GeoJSON Link Element	off	Include a `<link rel="alternate" type="application/geo+json">` to the GeoJSON API endpoint

Map Colour Coding

Colour-code geometries on aggregated maps (journal and press map pages) by issue or journal.

Setting	Default	Description
Enable Colour Coding	off	Assign colours to markers and geometries based on their grouping (issue on journal maps, journal on press maps)
Colour Method	`colorbrewer`	How to generate the palette: `colorbrewer` (ColorBrewer schemes), `startrek` (Star Trek themed palettes), `custom` (enter your own colours)
Colour Scheme	`Set2`	Palette name for the selected method. Qualitative schemes recommended for categorical data.
Custom Colours	(empty)	One HTML colour code per line (e.g., `#3388ff`). Used when method is `custom`.
Colour Palette	(auto)	JSON array of hex colours. Auto-populated from the selected method/scheme.
Map Feature Colour	`#3388ff`	Colour for map features on article and issue pages (when colour coding is disabled). Enter a hex code or select from the palette.

Map Basemap

The plugin uses leaflet-providers for basemap selection. Only providers that work without registration or API keys are included.

Setting	Default	Description
Basemap Provider	`OpenStreetMap.Mapnik`	Basemap provider key from leaflet-providers

Available basemaps:

Provider Key	Description
`OpenStreetMap.Mapnik`	Standard OpenStreetMap style
`OpenStreetMap.DE`	German OpenStreetMap style
`OpenStreetMap.CH`	Swiss OpenStreetMap style (Switzerland only)
`OpenStreetMap.France`	French OpenStreetMap style
`OpenStreetMap.HOT`	Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team style
`OpenStreetMap.BZH`	Breton OpenStreetMap style (Brittany region)
`OpenTopoMap`	Topographic map with contour lines
`CyclOSM`	Cycling-focused map style
`GeoportailFrance.plan`	French IGN Plan map
`GeoportailFrance.orthos`	French IGN aerial photos
`TopPlusOpen.Color`	German BKG topographic map (colour)
`TopPlusOpen.Grey`	German BKG topographic map (greyscale)

To preview all basemaps interactively, visit the leaflet-providers demo.

Reverse Geocoding

Automatically derive place names and administrative units from drawn geometries using reverse geocoding services.

Setting	Default	Description
Enable Reverse Geocoding	on	Enable the "Lookup Location Names" button on edit pages
Geocoding Provider	`nominatim`	Service to use: `nominatim` (OpenStreetMap), `photon`, or `geonames`
User Agent	`janeway-geometadata`	Identifies your instance to Nominatim/Photon (required by their usage policies)
GeoNames Username	(empty)	Required when using GeoNames provider. Register at geonames.org

Default Map View

Setting	Default	Description
Default Map Latitude	0	Default center latitude (-90 to 90)
Default Map Longitude	0	Default center longitude (-180 to 180)
Default Map Zoom	2	Default zoom level (1-18)

Data Privacy and Tile Servers

When maps are displayed, the user's browser connects directly to an external tile server to load map tiles (the background map images). No map tile data is proxied through the Janeway server — the browser makes requests to the tile provider, which will receive the user's IP address, browser user agent, and the geographic extent of the requested map area.

Default Tile Server: OpenStreetMap

By default, the plugin uses tile servers operated by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF), located in the United Kingdom and other countries. The Janeway site operator has no control over these connections or OSMF's data processing practices.

If you select a different basemap provider (see Map Basemap), the browser will connect to that provider instead. Each provider has its own privacy policy and usage terms.

The use of this map service can be justified under the legitimate interest of displaying map functions to users of the website (cf. Article 6(1)(f) GDPR).

OSMF Privacy Policy: https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_Policy

OSMF Tile Usage Policy: https://operations.osmfoundation.org/policies/tiles/

Privacy Page Guidance

If your journal or press displays maps to visitors, your data privacy statement should inform users that:

Map tiles are loaded from an external service (identify which one).
The user's browser connects directly to that service, transmitting the IP address, browser user agent, and the map area viewed.
The site operator has no control over the external service's data processing.
Link to the tile provider's privacy policy.

Example paragraph (adapt to your tile provider and legal requirements):

This website uses map services provided by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF). When you view a page containing a map, your browser connects to servers operated by the OSMF to load map tiles. This transmits your IP address and other request data to the OSMF. We have no control over this data processing. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interest in displaying geographic information (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). For details, see the OSMF Privacy Policy.

Template Requirements

Some plugin features require hooks that are not present in standard Janeway templates. The plugin's settings page automatically detects which hooks are available and disables settings that cannot function without them.

Standard Hooks (No Changes Required)

These hooks are present in all Janeway themes out of the box:

Hook	Purpose
`article_footer_block`	Display maps on article/preprint pages
`nav_block`	Add navigation link to map page
`base_head_css`	Inject Leaflet CSS and custom styling
`in_review_editor_actions`	Display link to geometadata editing in editor review workflow

Non-Standard Hooks (Template Modification Required)

These hooks require adding a single line to your theme templates:

Hook	Template File	Purpose
`issue_footer_block`	`journal/issue_display.html`	Display aggregated map and temporal coverage on issue pages

Adding the issue_footer_block Hook

To enable issue page features, add the following line to your theme's journal/issue_display.html template, typically after the issue article list:

{% load hooks %}{% hook 'issue_footer_block' %}

For all three standard themes (OLH, material, clean), the recommended location is after the {% include "elements/journal/issue_block.html" %} line:

{% include "elements/journal/issue_block.html" %}
{% load hooks %}{% hook 'issue_footer_block' %}

After adding this line to your theme templates, the issue page settings (Show Temporal Coverage on Issue Pages) will become available in the plugin settings.

Usage

For Editors

Editors can access geometadata editing from multiple locations:

Access Point	Description
Review Workflow	Click "Edit Geometadata" button in the editor actions during article review
Curation Queue	Navigate to `/plugins/geometadata/curation-queue/` for a list of all articles with their geometadata status
Direct URL	Access editing directly at `/plugins/geometadata/edit/article/<article_id>/`
Article Archive Page	The "Edit Geometadata" link appears on the article's archive/management page

Editing geometadata:

Navigate to the geometadata editing page via any of the methods above
Draw shapes on the map or paste WKT geometry in the text field
Use "Lookup Location Names" to auto-fill place name and administrative units
Add temporal information (start date, end date) for relevant time periods
Save

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
`/plugins/geometadata/api/article/<pk>.json`	GeoJSON Feature for a single article
`/plugins/geometadata/api/preprint/<pk>.json`	GeoJSON Feature for a single preprint
`/plugins/geometadata/api/all.json`	GeoJSON FeatureCollection for all articles/preprints in the current journal/repository
`/plugins/geometadata/api/issue/<pk>.json`	GeoJSON FeatureCollection for all articles in an issue
`/plugins/geometadata/api/press.json`	GeoJSON FeatureCollection across all journals and repositories
`/plugins/geometadata/api/palette.json`	Colour palette array for map colour coding

Bounding box filtering: The all.json, issue/<pk>.json, and press.json endpoints support optional query parameters for spatial filtering:

Parameter	Description
`north`	Maximum latitude (-90 to 90)
`south`	Minimum latitude (-90 to 90)
`east`	Maximum longitude (-180 to 180)
`west`	Minimum longitude (-180 to 180)

Records are returned if their bounding box intersects the query box. All parameters are optional — you can filter by a single boundary if needed.

Example: /plugins/geometadata/api/all.json?south=40&north=60&west=-10&east=30

Full-Page Map

A public map page showing all articles/preprints with geographic metadata is available at /plugins/geometadata/map/. A navigation link is automatically added via the nav_block hook when viewing journal or repository pages.

Press-Wide Map

A press-wide map showing articles from all journals and repositories is available at /plugins/geometadata/press-map/. This requires the "Enable Map Page" setting to be turned on at the press level (via /plugins/geometadata/manager/ when accessed outside a journal context).

Note: The nav_block hook only adds navigation links within journal or repository contexts. To add a map link to your press landing page, manually add a link to your press theme template:

<a href="{% url 'geometadata_press_map_page' %}">Map</a>

Or add it to your press navigation in themes/<your-theme>/templates/press/nav.html or equivalent.

Data Model

Geometry is stored as WKT (Well-Known Text), a standard text format:

POINT(-122.4194 37.7749)
POLYGON((-10 35, 40 35, 40 70, -10 70, -10 35))

This approach was chosen over GeoDjango/PostGIS for:

No additional database requirements
CSV import/export compatibility
Simpler deployment

Each record includes automatically-calculated bounding box fields (bbox_north, bbox_south, bbox_east, bbox_west) for efficient spatial queries without requiring PostGIS. A composite B-tree index on these four fields enables fast bounding-box intersection queries used by the API's spatial filtering feature.

Translations (i18n)

This plugin supports Janeway's multilingual system. All user-facing strings are wrapped with Django's translation functions (gettext_lazy in Python, {% trans %} in templates), so the plugin can be displayed in any language that Janeway supports.

How Janeway's i18n Works

Janeway uses three layers for internationalization:

Django's standard i18n (USE_I18N = True, LocaleMiddleware) — translates Python strings and template text via .po/.mo files
Per-journal language settings — each journal can configure which languages are available and which is the default (via journal_languages and default_journal_language settings)
django-modeltranslation — translates model field values stored in the database (e.g., article titles, CMS page content)

Plugins participate in layer 1: they provide .po translation files in a locales/ directory. Janeway automatically discovers plugin locale directories via plugin_installed_apps.load_plugin_locales() in janeway_global_settings.py.

Included Translations

English (source language, all strings)
German

Adding a New Translation

Create the locale directory:

mkdir -p src/plugins/geometadata/locales/fr/LC_MESSAGES

Generate a .po file from the existing source strings. You can either copy the German .po file as a template and replace the msgstr values, or use Django's makemessages command:
```
cd src/plugins/geometadata
django-admin makemessages -l fr
```
This scans all Python files and templates for _() and {% trans %} strings and creates locales/fr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po.
Translate the msgstr entries in the .po file. Each entry has a msgid (English source) and a msgstr (your translation). Leave msgstr "" empty for untranslated strings — Django will fall back to English.

Compile the .po file into a binary .mo file:

cd src/plugins/geometadata/locales/fr/LC_MESSAGES
msgfmt -o django.mo django.po

Or use Django's command:

cd src
python3 manage.py compilemessages -l fr

Restart the server. Django loads .mo files at startup.

When to Update Translations

You need to regenerate/update .po files when:

You add new user-facing strings in Python code (wrapped in _() or gettext_lazy())
You add or change {% trans %} or {% blocktrans %} tags in templates
You change existing English source strings (the msgid values)

After modifying source strings, run makemessages again for each language, then update the translations and recompile with msgfmt or compilemessages.

File Layout

plugins/geometadata/
└── locales/
    ├── de/
    │   └── LC_MESSAGES/
    │       ├── django.po    # German translations (editable text)
    │       └── django.mo    # Compiled binary (generated, do not edit)
    └── en/
        └── LC_MESSAGES/
            ├── django.po    # English (empty — source strings are English)
            └── django.mo    # Compiled binary

Map UI Translations

Leaflet map controls (zoom buttons, fullscreen toggle, drawing toolbar) are translated without modifying any vendor JavaScript files. Django {% trans %} strings are passed to JS at runtime via two mechanisms:

data-i18n-* attributes on the map container <div> — read by geometadata-display.js and geometadata-edit.js to set Leaflet's zoomInTitle/zoomOutTitle and fullscreen control title/titleCancel.
L.drawLocal overrides in a <script> block in the edit templates (edit_article.html, edit_preprint.html) — sets all ~35 Leaflet.draw toolbar and tooltip strings before the draw control is initialised.

This keeps all vendor files (leaflet.js, leaflet.draw.js, leaflet.fullscreen.js) unmodified and updatable independently.

Important Notes for Plugin Developers

Python code: Use from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _ for model fields, form labels, and anything evaluated at import time. Use from django.utils.translation import gettext as _ in views for strings evaluated at request time.
Templates: Add {% load i18n %} at the top, then wrap strings with {% trans "text" %} or {% blocktrans %}...{% endblocktrans %} for strings with variables.
.po file encoding: Files must be UTF-8. Literal double-quote characters inside translated strings must be escaped as \".
Janeway auto-discovers plugin locales: The directory must be named locales/ (not locale/) and placed in the plugin root.

Development

Demo Data

The plugin includes a management command to load demo data for testing and development. The demo data is based on articles from the OJS geoMetadata Demo Journal.

Loading demo data:

# Create the demo journal and load all data (recommended for fresh installs)
python3 manage.py load_geometadata_demo --create-journal

# Load into an existing journal
python3 manage.py load_geometadata_demo --journal-code=geodemo

# Include placeholder PDF galleys
python3 manage.py load_geometadata_demo --create-journal --with-galleys

# Clear existing demo articles before loading
python3 manage.py load_geometadata_demo --journal-code=geodemo --clear-existing

Arguments:

Argument	Default	Description
`--journal-code`	`dqj`	Journal short code to load data into
`--create-journal`	off	Create the demo journal from `demo_journal.json` if it doesn't exist
`--owner-email`	`admin@example.com`	Email of user to be set as article owner
`--with-galleys`	off	Attach a placeholder PDF galley to each article
`--clear-existing`	off	Delete existing demo articles before loading (matches by title prefix)

What gets created:

Journal (when using --create-journal): "Delta Quadrant Journal" (dqj)
2 issues: Vol. 1 No. 1 (12 articles) and Vol. 1 No. 2 (6 articles)
18 articles with titles, abstracts, authors, and keywords
Geographic metadata: WKT geometries (points, polygons, multipoints) and place names
Temporal metadata: Various historical and modern time periods

Demo data files:

File	Description
`test/data/demo_journal.json`	Journal metadata (name, code, settings)
`test/data/demo_issues.json`	Issue metadata (volume, number, title, description)
`test/data/demo_articles.json`	Article data with authors, keywords, and geometadata
`test/data/placeholder.pdf`	Placeholder PDF for galleys

These JSON files can be customized or extended with additional test data. The default demo journal "Delta Quadrant Journal" (code: dqj) is configured with sensible defaults for testing the geometadata plugin.

Testing

Local Development Setup

For running tests outside of the Janeway Docker environment, create a virtual environment in the Janeway src directory:

cd path/to/janeway/src

# Create and activate virtual environment
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

# Install Janeway and plugin dependencies
pip install -r ../requirements.txt -r ../dev-requirements.txt
pip install -r plugins/geometadata/requirements.txt

The .venv directory is already in Janeway's .gitignore.

Note: If you've previously run Janeway with Docker, log files may be owned by root. Fix with: sudo chown -R $USER:$USER logs/

Unit Tests

Run the Django unit tests with SQLite (requires environment variables):

cd src
source .venv/bin/activate  # If not already activated

# Set required environment variables
export DB_VENDOR=sqlite
export JANEWAY_SETTINGS_MODULE=core.janeway_global_settings

# Run all plugin tests
python3 manage.py test plugins.geometadata

# Or run specific test modules
python3 manage.py test plugins.geometadata.tests.test_models
python3 manage.py test plugins.geometadata.tests.test_geojson_validation

You can also set these variables inline:

DB_VENDOR=sqlite JANEWAY_SETTINGS_MODULE=core.janeway_global_settings \
    python3 manage.py test plugins.geometadata

E2E Tests (Playwright)

The plugin includes end-to-end tests using Playwright to verify map functionality in a real browser. These tests check that maps render correctly on article, issue, journal, and press pages.

Prerequisites:

cd src
source .venv/bin/activate  # If not already activated

# Install E2E test dependencies
pip install -r plugins/geometadata/requirements-e2e.txt

# Install Playwright browsers (first time only)
playwright install chromium

Run E2E tests (headless):

cd src
source .venv/bin/activate
export DB_VENDOR=sqlite
export JANEWAY_SETTINGS_MODULE=core.janeway_global_settings

pytest plugins/geometadata/tests/e2e/ -v

Run E2E tests with visible browser (useful for debugging or following along):

cd src
source .venv/bin/activate
DB_VENDOR=sqlite JANEWAY_SETTINGS_MODULE=core.janeway_global_settings \
    pytest plugins/geometadata/tests/e2e/ -v --headed --slowmo=500

The --headed flag opens a browser window so you can watch the tests run. The --slowmo=500 adds a 500ms delay between actions for easier observation.

Run a specific test:

DB_VENDOR=sqlite JANEWAY_SETTINGS_MODULE=core.janeway_global_settings \
    pytest plugins/geometadata/tests/e2e/test_maps.py::TestJournalMapPage::test_map_page_contains_leaflet_map -v --headed

Test Artifacts:

When tests run, they generate several artifacts in tests/e2e/test-results/:

Artifact	Description
`screenshots/*.png`	Screenshots of map pages (captured for visual verification)
`traces/*.zip`	Playwright traces for failed tests (can be viewed with `playwright show-trace`)

To view a trace file for debugging a failed test:

playwright show-trace tests/e2e/test-results/traces/test-name-trace.zip

Code Style

Follow Janeway's code style:

ruff check src/plugins/geometadata
ruff format src/plugins/geometadata

Updating Bundled Libraries

See static/geometadata/README.md for details on the bundled Leaflet libraries, their licenses, and update instructions.

Potential Core Changes

Several enhancements to Janeway's core would improve geometadata integration. These are tracked in Issue #1.

License

This plugin is part of the KOMET project and is licensed under AGPL v3+, consistent with Janeway.

Contributors

Daniel Nüst, TU Dresden

Citation

If you use this plugin in your research or publication workflow, please cite it:

Nüst, D. (2026). Geometadata Plugin for Janeway (v0.1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18495577

BibTeX:

@software{nust_geometadata_2026,
  author       = {Nüst, Daniel},
  title        = {Geometadata Plugin for Janeway},
  year         = 2026,
  publisher    = {Zenodo},
  version      = {v0.1.0},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.18495577},
  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18495577}
}

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 16 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
locales		locales
management		management
migrations		migrations
static/geometadata		static/geometadata
templates/geometadata		templates/geometadata
test/data		test/data
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
.zenodo.json		.zenodo.json
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CITATION.cff		CITATION.cff
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
__init__.py		__init__.py
admin.py		admin.py
forms.py		forms.py
geocoding.py		geocoding.py
hooks.py		hooks.py
logic.py		logic.py
models.py		models.py
plugin_settings.py		plugin_settings.py
requirements-e2e.txt		requirements-e2e.txt
requirements.txt		requirements.txt
static_colorbrewer.py		static_colorbrewer.py
urls.py		urls.py
views.py		views.py

License

GeoinformationSystems/janeway_geometadata

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Geometadata Plugin for Janeway

Background

Features

Installation

Dependencies

Configuration

General Settings

Article Landing Page Display

Issue Page Display

Downloads

HTML Metadata Embedding

Map Colour Coding

Map Basemap

Reverse Geocoding

Default Map View

Data Privacy and Tile Servers

Default Tile Server: OpenStreetMap

Privacy Page Guidance

Template Requirements

Standard Hooks (No Changes Required)

Non-Standard Hooks (Template Modification Required)

Adding the issue_footer_block Hook

Usage

For Editors

API Endpoints

Full-Page Map

Press-Wide Map

Data Model

Translations (i18n)

How Janeway's i18n Works

Included Translations

Adding a New Translation

When to Update Translations

File Layout

Map UI Translations

Important Notes for Plugin Developers

Development

Demo Data

Testing

Local Development Setup

Unit Tests

E2E Tests (Playwright)

Code Style

Updating Bundled Libraries

Potential Core Changes

License

Contributors

Related

Citation

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