CNG Sandbox

A prototype storytelling tool that allows you to convert your legacy data formats into cloud-native data formats, share that data with others, and configure interactive stories.

Currently can be found at storytelling.developmentseed.org

Supported formats

Input	Output
GeoTIFF	Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (raster tiles)
NetCDF	Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (raster tiles)
HDF5	Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (raster tiles)
GeoJSON	Vector tiles
Shapefile	Vector tiles

Quick start

You need Docker installed and a Cloudflare R2 bucket with API credentials.

cp .env.example .env          # create local config — fill in R2 credentials
docker compose up -d --build   # start all services

Open http://localhost:5185 in your browser.

How it works

1. Upload a file (or paste a URL)
2. The ingestion service detects the format and converts it
3. Raster data becomes Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFFs served by titiler
4. Vector data becomes tiles served by tipg
5. Browse the result on an interactive map

Stopping

docker compose down       # stop containers (data is preserved)
docker compose down -v    # stop and wipe all data

Architecture

Browser ── Frontend (:5185) ──┬── Ingestion API (:8086)
                              ├── Raster tiler  (:8082)
                              └── Vector tiler  (:8083)

Ingestion API ──┬── Cloudflare R2 (S3-compatible storage)
                ├── PostgreSQL + PostGIS + pgSTAC
                └── STAC API

All traffic goes through the frontend's dev server — the browser only talks to port 5185.

Development

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose
• Node.js 20+ (for frontend development)
• Python 3.13+ and uv (for backend development)

Running services individually

Start just the infrastructure (database, object store, tilers):

docker compose up -d database stac-api raster-tiler vector-tiler

Then run the backend and frontend locally for faster iteration:

# Backend (in one terminal)
cd ingestion
pip install -e "../geo-conversions[all]"
pip install -e ".[dev]"
uvicorn src.app:app --reload --port 8086

# Frontend (in another terminal)
cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Running tests

cd ingestion && uv run pytest -v    # backend
cd frontend && npx vitest run       # frontend

Configuration

Copy .env.example to .env before starting. R2 credentials must be configured before the stack will work.

Variable	Default	Purpose
POSTGRES_USER	sandbox	Database username
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	sandbox_dev_password	Database password
POSTGRES_DB	postgis	Database name
POSTGRES_PORT	5439	Host port for PostgreSQL
R2_ACCOUNT_ID	—	Cloudflare account ID
R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID	—	R2 API token access key
R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	—	R2 API token secret key
R2_ENDPOINT	—	R2 S3 API endpoint URL
R2_PUBLIC_URL	—	R2 public read URL (r2.dev)
S3_BUCKET	sandbox-data	Bucket for converted files

Services

Port	Service	Purpose
5185	Frontend	Vite dev server — the main entry point
8086	Ingestion API	File upload and conversion
8081	STAC API	Spatiotemporal catalog
8082	Raster tiler	COG tile serving (titiler)
8083	Vector tiler	Vector tile serving (tipg)
5439	PostgreSQL	pgSTAC database

All browser traffic goes through port 5185 — the frontend proxies API and tile requests to backend services.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Containers won't start	docker compose down -v && docker compose up -d --build
Upload stuck at "Ingesting"	Check tiler logs: docker compose logs raster-tiler
Vector tiles return 404	tipg refreshes its catalog every 5 seconds — wait briefly after upload
Map shows wrong location	Clear browser cache; old tile URLs may be cached
"File too large" error	Maximum upload size is 15 GB per file