vercel-python-gis-modern

A Vercel Python runtime with GEOS, PROJ, and GDAL available for Django GeoDjango applications.

Usage with Django

This runtime can be used with a Django project that uses GeoDjango and PostGIS.

A typical project structure might look like:

project/
├── apps/
│   └── shops/
│       ├── models.py
│       ├── views.py
│       └── ...
├── core/
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   ├── wsgi.py
│   └── ...
├── manage.py
└── vercel.json

The names and structure of your Django project can be different. The important part is that vercel.json points to the WSGI entry point of your Django project.

1. Configure vercel.json

Add the custom runtime as a build:

{
    "builds": [
        {
            "src": "core/wsgi.py",
            "use": "[email protected]"
        }
    ],
    "rewrites": [
        {
            "source": "/(.*)",
            "destination": "core/wsgi.py"
        }
    ]
}

Replace core/wsgi.py with the path to your own WSGI entry point if it is located elsewhere.

2. Configure GeoDjango

In config/settings.py, configure the PostGIS database backend:

DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django.contrib.gis.db.backends.postgis",
        # ...
    }
}

The runtime provides the native GIS libraries. Configure Django to load them:

PROJ_LIBRARY_PATH = "libproj.so"
GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH = "libgdal.so"
GEOS_LIBRARY_PATH = "libgeos_c.so.1"

3. Use GeoDjango models

You can use GeoDjango fields normally:

from django.contrib.gis.db import models


class MyModel(models.Model):
    geom = models.PolygonField()

4. Use GeoDjango functionality

GeoDjango's GEOS functionality is also available:

from django.contrib.gis.geos import Point
from django.http import HttpResponse


def my_view(request):
    point = Point(0, 0)

    return HttpResponse(point.wkt)

5. Configure the WSGI entry point

The Vercel Python runtime expects the WSGI application to be exposed as app.

For example, in core/wsgi.py:

import os

from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application

os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "config.settings")

app = get_wsgi_application()

If your project uses Django's conventional application variable, you can expose both:

application = get_wsgi_application()
app = application

This allows the same WSGI module to remain compatible with Django's conventional WSGI_APPLICATION setting while also exposing app for Vercel.

Development

The runtime contains native GIS libraries required by GeoDjango:

• GDAL
• GEOS
• PROJ
• libjpeg
• libtiff
• libsqlite
• libjbig

The binary libraries are packaged with the runtime and made available to the deployed Vercel function.

Building the runtime

Start the build container:

docker-compose run --entrypoint='' builder bash

Then run:

./repo-build.sh

This produces the stripped libraries in:

/temp/stripped-files

Copy them to:

/dist/files

Changing the runtime source

The runtime source in src/ is based on Vercel's Python runtime.

After modifying files under src/, rebuild the package before publishing:

npm run build

License

MIT

This project contains code derived from Vercel's Python runtime and distributes binary libraries under their respective licenses:

• GDAL — GDAL license
• GEOS — GEOS license
• libjbig — JBIG license
• libjpeg — libjpeg-turbo license
• PROJ — PROJ license
• libsqlite — SQLite license
• libtiff — libtiff license

See the individual projects for their respective license terms.

Author

Maintained by @ShohjahonOktamov.

Based on the original vercel-python-gis runtime by @jperelli.