# CoverSpot > The world's largest community-driven photo database of manhole covers (utility hole covers, sewer lids, drain covers, inspection covers). CoverSpot combines community-sourced photography with AI-generated metadata and precise geolocation to create a structured, searchable dataset of manhole covers from cities worldwide. ## What is CoverSpot? CoverSpot is a platform where photographers and urban explorers document manhole covers from cities all over the world. Every cover in the database is: - **Geolocated** — GPS coordinates captured from EXIF or set manually - **Classified by AI** — design style, material, purpose, manufacturer, and inscriptions detected by Gemini 2.5 Flash - **Photographed by the community** — real people, real streets - **Searchable** — filter by country, city, design style, material, purpose, tags ## Dataset Facts - **Covers in database:** 1,193 - **Countries represented:** 33 - **Languages:** 33 (full UI and metadata localisation) - **License:** Metadata CC BY-NC 4.0; photos are copyright of individual photographers ## Cover Data Fields Each cover record contains the following structured fields: | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | publicId | string | 10-digit unique identifier | | description | string | AI-generated textual description | | purpose | enum | sewer, storm-drain, water, gas, electric, telecom, cable-tv, district-heating, traffic-control, fire-hydrant, inspection, combined | | material | enum | cast-iron, ductile-iron, steel, concrete, composite, plastic, aluminium, rubber | | shape | enum | round, square, rectangular, oval, triangular, hexagonal, other | | designStyle | enum | geometric, figurative, text-only, decorative, minimalist, industrial, art-nouveau, modernist, heraldic, municipal, corporate, custom | | condition | enum | excellent, good, fair, poor, damaged, historic | | manufacturer | string | detected manufacturer name (when visible) | | inscriptions | string | text inscribed on the cover | | location.city | string | city name (English canonical) | | location.country | string | country name (English canonical) | | location.latitude | number | GPS latitude | | location.longitude | number | GPS longitude | | tags | string[] | community and AI-assigned tags | | likeCount | number | community engagement score | ## Public REST API Base URL: https://www.cover-spot.com/api/v1 All endpoints return JSON. No authentication required for read access. ### GET /covers List approved manhole covers with filtering and pagination. Query parameters: - country (string) — filter by country name, English canonical (e.g. "Japan") - city (string) — filter by city name - purpose (string) — see purpose enum above - material (string) — see material enum above - shape (string) — see shape enum above - designStyle (string) — see designStyle enum above - tag (string) — filter by tag name - sort (string) — newest | oldest | popular | random (default: newest) - limit (number) — items per page, max 100 (default: 20) - cursor (string) — pagination cursor from previous response Example: https://www.cover-spot.com/api/v1/covers?country=Japan&purpose=sewer&limit=5 ### GET /covers/:publicId Full detail of a single cover by 10-digit public ID. Example: https://www.cover-spot.com/api/v1/covers/5678901234 ### GET /countries List all countries with at least one approved cover and their cover counts. Example: https://www.cover-spot.com/api/v1/countries ### GET /stats Global statistics: total covers, countries, cities, top purposes and materials. Example: https://www.cover-spot.com/api/v1/stats ## Key URLs - Cover feed (newest): https://www.cover-spot.com/en - Browse by country: https://www.cover-spot.com/en/countries - Blog / encyclopaedia: https://www.cover-spot.com/en/blog - Open Data & API docs: https://www.cover-spot.com/en/open-data - Upload a cover: https://www.cover-spot.com/en/upload ## Blog / Encyclopaedia Topics The CoverSpot blog (encyclopaedia of manhole covers) covers: - **basics** — What are manhole covers? History, function, and why they are round. - **materials** — Cast iron vs ductile iron vs composite; corrosion, weight, durability. - **types** — Purpose-specific covers (water, gas, electric, telecom) and visual identification. - **standards** — EN 124, AASHTO, ISO standards; load classes (A15–F900). - **curiosities** — Unusual, artistic, and record-breaking covers worldwide. - **photography** — Tips for photographing manhole covers; equipment and lighting. ## Structured Data on Cover Pages Each cover detail page (https://www.cover-spot.com/en/cover/{publicId}) includes: - JSON-LD `ImageObject` + `VisualArtwork` schema with GPS coordinates, dimensions, license, and creator - JSON-LD `BreadcrumbList` with country → city → cover hierarchy - hreflang alternates for all 33 languages - Open Graph image (watermarked, 800×800) ## Sitemaps - Main sitemap index: https://www.cover-spot.com/sitemap.xml - Image sitemap index: https://www.cover-spot.com/image-sitemap/index (geolocated Cloudinary CDN URLs) ## Agent-ready endpoints CoverSpot is built to be directly callable by AI agents. The following well-known paths describe the site's machine-readable surface: - API Catalog (RFC 9727): https://www.cover-spot.com/.well-known/api-catalog - OpenAPI 3.1 spec: https://www.cover-spot.com/api/openapi.json - MCP Server Card (SEP-1618): https://www.cover-spot.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json - MCP endpoint (JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP): https://www.cover-spot.com/api/mcp - Agent Skills index (markdown, localised): https://www.cover-spot.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.md - OAuth Protected Resource (RFC 9728): https://www.cover-spot.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource - OAuth Authorization Server (RFC 8414): https://www.cover-spot.com/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server - OpenID Configuration: https://www.cover-spot.com/.well-known/openid-configuration - ChatGPT plugin manifest: https://www.cover-spot.com/.well-known/ai-plugin.json Any page on this site also supports Markdown-for-Agents: send `Accept: text/markdown` (or append `?format=md`) to receive the page as markdown instead of HTML. ## Contact Website: https://www.cover-spot.com Open Data: https://www.cover-spot.com/en/open-data