Black Rock City Planner

This is a collection of command line tools and scripts that generate GeoJSON. The GeoJSON is then used in the iBurn app.

Geo Data Generator

What we can create:

• The centerlines of all the streets inside the fence.
• The trash fence pentagon.
• All the plazas and portals.
• An outline of all the streets at proper width combined with plazas and portals (used for good looking rendereing).
• Toilets as points or polygons

What we can't create:

• Gate Road
• Camp polygons (can geocode addresses).
• Art locations (can geocode addresses).
• Locations of important POI like first-aid, ranger and ice.
• Airport

Install

npm install or npm install -g

Use

Generate all the files at once

node src/cli/generate_all.js -d [SOMETHING]/iBurn-Data/data/2025

Streets

node src/cli/layout.js -f [layout file] -o [output file] -t [type]

• layout file: path to the layout file. Use the latest year to see the proper format.
• output file: (optional) The output GeoJSON destination. Results from 2016
• type: streets, polygons, outline, fence, dmz

Toilets

node src/cli/toilet.js -f [layout file] -t [toilet layout file] -o [output file]

• layout file: path to the layout file. Use the latest year to see the proper format.
• toilet layout file: path to the toilet layout file.
• output file: (optional) The output GeoJSON destination. Here are results for 2016

API Data Sync

Fetch and Geocode Latest Data

This fetches the latest data from the Burning Man API and geocodes camp locations:

# Set your API key (get from api.burningman.org)
export BMORG_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

# Fetch all data and geocode camps
node src/cli/fetch_and_geocode.js \
  --year 2025 \
  --layout ../../data/2025/layouts/layout.json \
  --output ../../data/2025/APIData/APIData.bundle

Options:

• -y, --year - Year to fetch data for (e.g., 2025)
• -l, --layout - Path to layout.json file for geocoding
• -o, --output - Output directory for API data files

What it does:

1. Fetches camps, art, and events from api.burningman.org
2. Geocodes camps using their location_string field
3. Saves art and events as-is (already have coordinates)
4. Creates update.json with timestamps
5. Provides summary statistics

Manual Geocoding

This geocodes the a string in an API JSON file and outputs full API result + lat/lon.

node src/cli/api.js -l [layout file] -f [API JSON] -k [key string to geocode] -o [output file] e.g.

node src/cli/api.js -l ../../data/2025/layouts/layout.json -f ../../data/2025/APIData/Resources/camp.json -k location_string -o ../../data/2025/APIData/Resources/camp-location.json

Mock Locations (During Embargo Periods)

When official location data is embargoed but development/testing needs location coordinates, this tool can copy location strings from a previous year and geocode them with the current year's layout for maximum accuracy.

Recommended (with geocoding):

node src/cli/mock_locations.js \
  --source ../../data/2024/APIData/camp.json \
  --target ../../data/2025/APIData/APIData.bundle/camp.json \
  --layout ../../data/2025/layouts/layout.json \
  --output ../../data/2025/APIData/APIData.bundle/camp-mocked.json \
  --type camp

Legacy mode (copy GPS coordinates directly):

node src/cli/mock_locations.js \
  --source ../../data/2024/APIData/camp.json \
  --target ../../data/2025/APIData/APIData.bundle/camp.json \
  --output ../../data/2025/APIData/APIData.bundle/camp-mocked.json \
  --use-geocoding false \
  --type camp

Options:

• -s, --source - Source JSON file with location data (e.g., 2024 camp.json)
• -t, --target - Target JSON file without location data (e.g., 2025 camp.json)
• -l, --layout - Layout JSON file for geocoding (required for geocoding mode)
• -o, --output - Output file path for enhanced data
• -m, --match-threshold - Similarity score for fuzzy matching (0-1, default: 0.8)
• -g, --use-geocoding - Use geocoding instead of copying GPS coordinates (default: true)
• --type - Data type (supports: camp, art, event)

Features:

• Geocoding Mode: Copies location strings and geocodes with current year's layout
• Intelligent Fallback: Falls back to original coordinates when geocoding fails
• Fuzzy Matching: Uses Levenshtein distance for name matching
• Comprehensive Reporting: Statistics on both matching and geocoding success rates
• Unit Tested: Full test coverage with real data samples

Geocoder