German License Plate Lookup

A lightweight web application that allows users to look up the first letters on a german license plate (district code) and find out which city or district they represent.

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Overview

This project provides a simple, fast, and offline-capable tool to identify German vehicle registration codes.
Users can enter a license plate abbreviation (for example, HH, B, or M) and instantly see the corresponding city or region.

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Features

• Search for any German license plate abbreviation
• Displays the corresponding city or district name
• Uses a local JSON file as the data source (no external API required)
• Lightweight and dependency-free

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Technologies Used

• Vanilla JavaScript - Core logic/Fetching and displaying data
• JSON - Data source for license plate codes

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Project Structure

. 
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
├── cliff.toml
├── data
│   ├── numberplates.json
│   └── numberplates.txt
├── functions
│   ├── data.js
│   └── health.js
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
├── public
│   ├── 404.html
│   ├── android-chrome-192x192.png
│   ├── android-chrome-512x512.png
│   ├── apple-touch-icon.png
│   ├── favicon-16x16.png
│   ├── favicon-32x32.png
│   ├── favicon.ico
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── script.js
│   ├── site.webmanifest
│   └── style.css
├── scripts
│   └── generate-release-notes.sh
└── wrangler.jsonc

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Usage

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/Schousboe/CityByPlate.git
   &&
   cd CityByPlate

2. Go to the dev branch

   git checkout dev 

3. Generate a SSL certificate (Only the first time)

   chmod +x ./scripts/cert.sh 

   Gives cert.sh permission to be executed

   ./scripts/cert.sh 

   Execute cert.sh

4. Start up a local HTTPS server

   node server.js

   The terminal should display:

   HTTPS Server running at https://localhost:8443 # If localhost:8443 is already in use, it will use another

5. Open your web browser

   Open https://localhost:8443 in your browser.

6. Enter a license plate abbreviation and the result will be displayed immediately.

   Enter an abbreviation like B for Berlin or M for Munich, click "Search" and watch the magic happen!

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How It Works

1. When the user clicks "Search", the function findCity runs.

2. The script loads the numberplates.json file asynchronously.

3. The user input is matched against the dataset.

4. If a match is found, the city or region name is displayed; otherwise, an error message appears.

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Future Improvements

Please leave an issue or PR on some of this, if you wanna help.

• Implement autocomplete or live suggestions for abbreviations

• Improve mobile responsiveness and accessibility

• Include additional metadata such as federal state or region

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute it for personal or commercial purposes.

_{Made with ❤ by Schousboe}