Photon Docker Image

Overview

This is an unofficial docker image for Photon

Photon is an open-source geocoding solution built for OpenStreetMap (OSM) data, providing features such as search-as-you-type and reverse geocoding. This repository offers a Docker image for running Photon locally, enhancing data privacy and integration capabilities with services like Dawarich.

Important Notes

⚠️ Warning: Large File Sizes ⚠️

• The Photon index file is fairly large and growing steadily. As of the beginning of 2025, around 200GB is needed for the full index, and it is growing by 10-20GB per year.
• Ensure you have sufficient disk space available before running the container.
• The initial download and extraction process may take a considerable amount of time. Depending on your hardware, checksum verification and decompression may take multiple hours.

♻️ Change in Default Download Source ♻️

• To reduce the load on the official Photon servers, the default BASE_URL for downloading the index files now points to a community-hosted mirror. Please see the Community Mirrors section for more details.

Usage

Configuration Options

The container can be configured using the following environment variables:

Variable	Parameters	Default	Description
UPDATE_STRATEGY	PARALLEL, SEQUENTIAL, DISABLED	SEQUENTIAL	Controls how index updates are handled. PARALLEL downloads the new index in the background then swaps with minimal downtime (requires 2x space). SEQUENTIAL stops Photon, deletes the existing index, downloads the new one, then restarts. DISABLED prevents automatic updates. Most users do not need frequent updates; consider setting this to DISABLED.
UPDATE_INTERVAL	Time string (e.g., "720h", "30d")	30d	How often to check for updates. To reduce server load, it is recommended to set this to a long interval (e.g., 720h for 30 days) or disable updates altogether if you do not need the latest data.
COUNTRY_CODE	Two-letter country code	-	Optional country code for a smaller index (available codes). Only one country code is supported at a time.
LOG_LEVEL	DEBUG, INFO, ERROR	INFO	Controls logging verbosity.
FORCE_UPDATE	TRUE, FALSE	FALSE	Forces an index update on container startup, regardless of UPDATE_STRATEGY.
BASE_URL	Valid URL	https://r2.koalasec.org/public/experimental	Custom base URL for index data downloads. Should point to the parent directory of index files. The default has been changed to a community mirror to reduce load on the GraphHopper servers.
SKIP_MD5_CHECK	TRUE, FALSE	FALSE	Optionally skip MD5 verification of downloaded index files.
FILE_URL	URL to a .tar.bz2 file	-	Set a custom URL for the index file to be downloaded (e.g., "https://download1.graphhopper.com/public/experimental/photon-db-latest.tar.bz2"). This must be a tar.bz2 format. Make sure to set the UPDATE_STRATEGY to DISABLED when using this option.
PHOTON_PARAMS	Photon executable parameters	-	See https://github.com/komoot/photon#running-photon.

Example Docker Compose

services:
    photon:
        image: rtuszik/photon-docker:latest
        environment:
            - UPDATE_STRATEGY=PARALLEL
            - UPDATE_INTERVAL=720h # Check for updates every 30 days
            # - COUNTRY_CODE=zw  # Optional: country-specific index
        volumes:
            - photon_data:/photon/photon_data
        restart: unless-stopped
        ports:
            - "2322:2322"
volumes:
    photon_data:

docker-compose up -d

Community Mirrors

To ensure the sustainability of the Photon project and reduce the load on the official GraphHopper download servers, this Docker image now defaults to using community-hosted mirrors.

⚠️ Disclaimer: Community mirrors are not officially managed by the Photon team or the maintainer of this Docker image. There are no guarantees regarding the availability, performance, or integrity of the data provided by these mirrors. Use them at your own discretion.

If you are hosting a public mirror, please open an issue or pull request to have it added to this list.

URL	Maintained By	Status
https://r2.koalasec.org/public/experimental	rtuszik
https://download1.graphhopper.com/public/experimental	GraphHopper (Official)
https://r2.naru.dev/	naru

Use with Dawarich

This docker container for photon can be used as your reverse-geocoder for the Dawarich Location History Tracker

To connect dawarich to your photon instance, the following environment variables need to be set in your dawarich docker-compose.yml:

PHOTON_API_HOST={PHOTON-IP}:{PORT}
PHOTON_API_USE_HTTPS=false

for example:

PHOTON_API_HOST=192.168.10.10:2322
PHOTON_API_USE_HTTPS=false

• Do not set PHOTON_API_USE_HTTPS to true unless your photon instance is available using HTTPS.
• Only use the host address for your photon instance. Do not append /api

Build and Run Locally

docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml build --build-arg PHOTON_VERSION=0.6.2

Accessing the API

The Photon API is available at:

http://localhost:2322/api?q=Harare

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please submit pull requests or open issues for suggestions and improvements.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Acknowledgments

• Photon
• Dawarich