Vincenty

vincenty /ˈvɪn.sɛn.ti/ — The Vincenty formulae, developed by Polish-American geodesist Thaddeus Vincenty (1920–2002), are the algorithms that calculate precise distances between two coordinates on the surface of an ellipsoidal Earth. Used in every GPS receiver, mapping platform, and navigation system that needs accurate real-world measurements. Vincenty's work is why your phone knows exactly how far you are from where you need to be.

A modern, lightweight situational awareness platform. Built as an alternative to TAK Server for teams that need real-time location tracking, secure messaging, and map-based coordination — deployable to the cloud or fully air-gapped environments with zero internet dependency.

Why Vincenty?

TAK Server is powerful but heavy — complex to deploy, tightly coupled to specific clients, and difficult to run in constrained environments. Vincenty takes a different approach:

• Lightweight — Go API with minimal dependencies, distroless container images
• Air-gap ready — No CDN calls, no external fonts, local tile serving. Works on an isolated network with docker compose up
• Modern clients — Browser-based web UI and native iOS app with real-time maps, chat, and admin tools
• Cloud native — Runs on Docker Compose, Kubernetes, or AWS ECS Fargate
• Simple operations — All configuration via environment variables, automatic database migrations, admin bootstrap on first start

Screenshots

Quick Start

Prerequisites: Docker and Docker Compose

git clone https://github.com/hayward-solutions/vincenty.git
cd vincenty
make dev

This starts the full stack:

Service	URL	Purpose
Web Client	http://localhost:3000	Browser UI
API	http://localhost:8080	REST + WebSocket API
PostgreSQL	localhost:5432	Database (PostGIS)
Redis	localhost:6379	Pub/sub messaging
Minio Console	http://localhost:9001	Object storage (dev only)

Default admin credentials: admin / changeme

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
API	Go (stdlib net/http), no framework
Database	PostgreSQL 16 + PostGIS
Pub/Sub	Redis (pluggable — interface supports Kafka, Apache Ignite)
Object Storage	S3-compatible (Minio for dev, AWS S3 for production)
Real-time	WebSocket (nhooyr.io/websocket)
Auth	JWT access tokens + rotating refresh tokens + long-lived API tokens
Web Client	Next.js (App Router, standalone output)
CLI Client	Go (streams GPX/GeoJSON tracks over WebSocket)
iOS Client	SwiftUI (iOS 17+, Swift 6.0, MVVM + Observation)
UI (Web)	shadcn/ui, Tailwind CSS v4, Radix UI
Maps	MapLibre GL JS (web), MapLibre Native SDK (iOS)
Containers	Multi-stage Docker (distroless for API, node-slim for web)

License

MIT