Platform
LocateFlow takes third-party datasets from source to licensed access: ingest, OGC API — Features, one authorization path, time-bound licensing, and metadata-only discovery.
What changes
A feature service answers “what data is here?”. LocateFlow also answers “who owns it, who may read it, under what terms, and where can it be found?”.
WFS-era stack
With LocateFlow
Capabilities
Each capability is backed by a requirement and an architecture decision. The status page records what is released and what is still planned.
The loader accepts WFS 1.x/2.x, GeoJSON, and Shapefile sources and writes them through one sanitize, validate, and store pipeline. Every collection is stamped with its owner tenant. CSV/DBF is specified but not implemented. Remote OGC API — Features and remote GeoJSON URL sources are in development for 0.6.0.
REQ-001…007, REQ-024, REQ-051 · ADR-0039, ADR-0056Collections are served through OGC API — Features Core and Part 3 Filtering. CQL2 text and JSON, bbox, datetime, and keyset pagination are supported. STAC defines the storage model; the serving surface is OGC API — Features, not a STAC API.
REQ-008…011 · ADR-0010, ADR-0011, ADR-0021Ownership, visibility, capabilities, quotas, and suspension are decided by the permission service. The gateway strips client context, authenticates the caller, asks the PDP, and injects the decision into the upstream service. featureflow holds no authorization state.
REQ-012, REQ-031, REQ-039 · ADR-0033, ADR-0037, ADR-0043A license covers one or more collections with per-collection terms: spatial, temporal, feature-count, and request-quota. Licenses are time-bound, always revocable, and never sublicensed. Features inside the granted area are returned whole — never clipped.
REQ-014, REQ-037 · ADR-0004, ADR-0005, ADR-0036, ADR-0041Owners opt collections into public metadata listings or tenant discovery views. The two discovery segments are “listed and accessible” and “listed offers not yet held”. A listing never grants access: feature data always rides the visitor’s own entitlement.
REQ-040 · ADR-0050The architecture is designed for 1 to 1,000+ collections and aggregations of dozens of billions of features. H3, externalized properties, partitions, and the reversible performance component are the last feature phase, not a shipped claim.
REQ-016…018 · ADR-0006, ADR-0014Who it is for
The platform is multi-tenant: one Host, many tenants, and one shared authorization path.
| Audience | Job to be done | What they get |
|---|---|---|
| Data provider / licensor | Publish datasets, set terms, find licensees. | Ownership, publishing, per-collection license terms, metadata listings. |
| Tenant / licensee | Discover collections, obtain access, consume data. | Discovery views, license acceptance, API keys, OAuth2 machine clients. |
| Developer / operator | Integrate, run, and verify the platform. | Open standards, environment-only config, release records, status matrix. |
| Public visitor | See what is offered without an account. | Metadata-only catalogue listings and a platform-mediated offer. |
Scope
Clear boundaries are part of the product. These are current non-goals, not missing documentation.
Next step
Read the request path, the trust boundary, and the deployment model — or open the live platform.