How to store users location in django using GeoDjango.

Shivam Rohilla
3 min readJan 31, 2024

Hello devs, In this blog we’ll learn about storing user location in django with the longitude and latitude and for that we will use GeoDjango, Django provides a framework called GeoDjango, and with the help of GeoDjango we can store the user location parameters (Latitude and Longitude), and point the user location on map in django admin.

So, basically I’m storing the user location and the parameter in django while signup or user creation, and with the help of that we can know the user exact location.

and for storing the user location with django, we are using Postgresql database, which provides postgis extension, and supports the user location functionality, and I’m using Mac, so, please manage the Postgis path and extension according to your OS, so let’s start code now:-

Post link for source code

pythondjangogeek.com | https://pythondjangogeek.com/django/how-to-store-users-location-in-django-using-geodja/

Geo Django and Postgresql Installation

brew install postgres
brew install postgis

or

download the postgres app from this link:-

https://postgresapp.com/downloads.html

Installing Geospatial Libraries

brew install gdal
brew install geos
brew install libgeoip

add library path in django setting.py file

GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH = '/opt/homebrew/Cellar/gdal/3.8.3/lib/libgdal.dylib'
GEOS_LIBRARY_PATH = '/opt/homebrew/Cellar/geos/3.12.1/lib/libgeos_c.dylib'

Setting up Django project

django-admin startproject userlocation

and now mention postgis in settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
'django.contrib.gis',
'rest_framework.authtoken',
'rest_framework',
'users'
]

Now, we will create models.py

from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.contrib.gis.db import models
class Customer(models.Model):
user = models.OneToOneField(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='user_profile')
name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
location = models.PointField(blank=True, null=True)
longitude = models.FloatField()
latitude = models.FloatField()
def __str__(self):
return self.name

ww’ll store user longitude and latitude and also location with the PointField, this field will show the map on Django admin like this:-

Admin.py file

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Customer
from django.contrib.gis.admin import OSMGeoAdmin
@admin.register(Customer)
class CustomerAdmin(OSMGeoAdmin):
list_display = ['id', 'name', 'user', 'location', 'longitude', 'latitude']
search_fields = ['name', 'user__username']

Serializers.py file

from rest_framework import serializers
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from .models import Customer
class UserSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = User
fields = ['username', 'password', 'email']
class CustomerSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
user = UserSerializer()
class Meta:
model = Customer
fields = ['id', 'user', 'name', 'location', 'longitude', 'latitude']

Views.py file

from rest_framework import generics
from rest_framework.response import Response
from rest_framework import status
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, login
from rest_framework.authtoken.models import Token
from django.contrib.gis.geos import Point
from .models import Customer
from .serializers import CustomerSerializer, UserSerializer
class CustomerListCreateView(generics.ListCreateAPIView):
queryset = Customer.objects.all()
serializer_class = CustomerSerializer
def create(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
user_serializer = UserSerializer(data=request.data.get('user'))
customer_serializer = self.get_serializer(data=request.data)
user_serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True)
customer_serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True)
# Create User instance
user = User.objects.create_user(**user_serializer.validated_data)
# Extract latitude and longitude from the request data
latitude = request.data.get('latitude', None)
longitude = request.data.get('longitude', None)
# Check if both latitude and longitude are present
if latitude is not None and longitude is not None:
# Create a Point object with the given latitude and longitude
location = Point(float(longitude), float(latitude))
customer_serializer.validated_data['location'] = location
# Create Customer instance
customer_serializer.validated_data['user'] = user
self.perform_create(customer_serializer)
# Create and return token
token, created = Token.objects.get_or_create(user=user)
headers = self.get_success_headers(customer_serializer.data)
return Response({'token': token.key, **customer_serializer.data}, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED, headers=headers)
class CustomerDetailView(generics.RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView):
queryset = Customer.objects.all()
serializer_class = CustomerSerializer
class UserLoginView(generics.CreateAPIView):
serializer_class = UserSerializer
def create(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
username = request.data.get('username', '')
password = request.data.get('password', '')
user = authenticate(request, username=username, password=password) if user is not None:
login(request, user)
token, created = Token.objects.get_or_create(user=user)
serializer = UserSerializer(user)
return Response({'token': token.key, **serializer.data})
else:
return Response({'detail': 'Invalid credentials'}, status=status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED)

URLs.py file

from django.urls import path
from .views import CustomerListCreateView, CustomerDetailView, UserLoginView
urlpatterns = [
path('customers/', CustomerListCreateView.as_view(), name='customer-list-create'),
path('customers/<int:pk>/', CustomerDetailView.as_view(), name='customer-detail'),
path('login/', UserLoginView.as_view(), name='user-login'),
]

so, that’s how you can implement the user location in django using GeoDjango, and you can connect with me.

Thank You.
Shivam Rohilla | Python Developer

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Shivam Rohilla

Hello! I'm Shivam Rohilla, a seasoned Python Django Developer with 5 years of professional experience.