WriteToGov

Source code for https://www.writetogov.com/, a tool for easily contacting one's elected representatives.

Setting Up

Python Environment and Dependencies

It's highly recommended to use virtualenv. Create a virtual environment, clone the repo into it, activate the virtualenv, and install requirements.

virtualenv WriteToGov
cd WriteToGov
git clone https://github.com/jlgoldman/writetogov.git
cd writetogov
# Activate the virtualenv and set the PROJECTPATH environment variable
source env.sh
pip install -r requirements.txt

Local Configuration Constants

Create a file called config/constants_override.py. All variables in this file override default values found in config/constants.py, but constants_override.py is kept out of the GitHub repo so is appropriate for local secrets and settings.

Only the following should be needed in constants_override.py for most uses:

DEBUG = True
HOST = 'localhost:5000'
HTTPS = False
# Generate once with import os; os.urandom(24)
FLASK_SECRET_KEY = '...'
# Generate once with import os; os.urandom(24)
PUBLIC_ID_ENCRYPTION_KEY ='...'
# Register for a Google Cloud Console project, go to the Credentials section,
# generate an API key, and enable Google Maps JavaScript API and
# Google Places API Web Service.
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY = '...'

Setup the Database

Install PostreSQL.

Install PostGIS. PostGIS is the geospatial extension for PostgreSQL; writetogov stores polygons for Congressional districts using PostGIS Geography column types, and looks up a user's Congressional district from the latlng returned by Google Maps from their address, using a spatial query.

Create a database called writetogov. If using a different name or a non-local database, override SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI in constants_override.py with the name and location of your database.

createdb writetogov

Import the latest database snapshot, which contains data for Congressional districts and representatives, as well as empty tables for issue, reminder, etc. Find the latest snapshot in the data/ directory, at this writing writetogov.20170103.sql.zip.

unzip data/writetogov.20170103.sql.zip
psql -d writetogov -f writetogov.20170103.sql

Running

python main.py

This runs a debug server on port 5000; then just go to http://localhost:5000.