Skip to content

Activity

This endpoint gives you a live feed of recent activity on Yesterdays. For overall numbers, see statistics.

Activity feed

GET /api/v2/activity/

Returns a stream of recent activity on the site, including georeference contributions, comments, and milestones.

Example request

curl "https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/"

import requests

response = requests.get("https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/")
data = response.json()

library(httr2)

resp <- request("https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/") |>
  req_perform()
data <- resp_body_json(resp)

Example response

[
    {
        "type": "georeference_group",
        "timestamp": "2026-02-23T17:57:43Z",
        "data": {
            "user": "John Pole",
            "count": 4,
            "started_at": "2026-02-23T17:56:02Z",
            "ended_at": "2026-02-23T17:57:43Z",
            "images": [
                {
                    "id": 28656,
                    "title": "2705 - 2703 - 2701 E. Grace St.",
                    "thumbnail": "https://cdn.maprva.org/eea94aadbb05db2f4a54_thumb"
                },
                {
                    "id": 26221,
                    "title": "13 - 17 E. Broad St.",
                    "thumbnail": "https://cdn.maprva.org/58d41134f2b0a2057256_thumb"
                }
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "comment",
        "timestamp": "2026-02-20T16:59:14Z",
        "data": {
            "user": "John Pole",
            "text": "The sculptor calls this piece \"The Case of the Missing Executive\" on his own website",
            "image_id": 8151,
            "image_title": "Corporate Presence Sculpture"
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "user_milestone",
        "timestamp": "2026-02-20T01:58:16Z",
        "data": {
            "user": "whwilson",
            "count": 15
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "sitewide_milestone",
        "timestamp": "2026-02-23T17:57:43Z",
        "data": {
            "count": 9000
        }
    }
]

Info

The activity feed returns a flat array (not a paginated response). Use the before parameter to page through older events. When the response contains fewer events than limit (or is empty), you've reached the end of the feed.

Event types

The feed contains four types of events:

georeference_group

Consecutive georeferences by the same user, grouped together as long as each one is made within 3 hours of the last. This reduces noise in the feed when someone georeferences many images in one session.

Field Type Description
user string OpenStreetMap username of the contributor
count integer Number of georeferences in this group
started_at string When the first georeference was made
ended_at string When the last georeference was made
images array The images that were georeferenced (id, title, thumbnail)

comment

A comment left on an image.

Field Type Description
user string OpenStreetMap username of the commenter
text string Comment text
image_id integer ID of the image
image_title string Title of the image

user_milestone

A contributor reached a georeferencing milestone (5, 15, 50, 100, 250, etc.). The exact milestones are set by the site administrator and are subject to change.

Field Type Description
user string OpenStreetMap username of the contributor
count integer The milestone reached

sitewide_milestone

The site as a whole reached a total georeferencing milestone (100, 250, 500, 1000, etc.). The exact milestones are set by the site administrator and are subject to change.

Field Type Description
count integer The milestone reached

Query parameters

Parameter Type Default Description
before string — ISO 8601 timestamp. Return only events before this time. Use this for pagination by passing the timestamp of the last event you received.
types string all Comma-separated list of event types to include: georeference_group, comment, user_milestone, sitewide_milestone.
limit integer 20 Number of events to return (max 100).

Examples

Paginating through the feed

Fetch the first page:

curl "https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/"

import requests

response = requests.get("https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/")
data = response.json()

library(httr2)

resp <- request("https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/") |>
  req_perform()
data <- resp_body_json(resp)

Then use the timestamp of the last event to fetch the next page:

curl "https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/?before=2026-02-20T01:58:16Z"

import requests

response = requests.get("https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/", params={
    "before": "2026-02-20T01:58:16Z",
})
data = response.json()

library(httr2)

resp <- request("https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/") |>
  req_url_query(before = "2026-02-20T01:58:16Z") |>
  req_perform()
data <- resp_body_json(resp)

Filtering by type

Show only comments and milestones:

curl "https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/?types=comment,user_milestone"

import requests

response = requests.get("https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/", params={
    "types": "comment,user_milestone",
})
data = response.json()

library(httr2)

resp <- request("https://yesterdays.maprva.org/api/v2/activity/") |>
  req_url_query(types = "comment,user_milestone") |>
  req_perform()
data <- resp_body_json(resp)