middle-passage 0.1.1

Phase 0 protection-first memorial GIS scaffold: reproducible zones, explicit limits, no remains claims

middle-passage

"The ocean kept receipts. We are learning to read them."

PyPI: pypi.org/project/middle-passage

Open-source toolkit for the Middle Passage Forensic Recovery Project: a protection-first Phase 0 scaffold for voyage records, explicit modeling limits, and memorial GIS outputs.

The word forensic in the project name refers to recovery and accountability framing, not to a court-certified or validated forensic analysis product. This package is Pre-Alpha research software.

What you get today (real capabilities)

These are implemented and tested behaviors you can rely on:

• CSV → structured voyages with flexible column aliases (middle_passage.voyages.loader).
• Filtering in Python or via CLI: route match, mortality threshold, jettison-only, year range.
• Survey-priority zones as centers, radii, and assumption strings derived from documented Phase 0 placeholders (not from real bathymetry or ocean reanalysis).
• GeoJSON export with protection language, sensitivity fields, package version, validation status, what is included vs not included, and limitation bullets (metadata on every FeatureCollection).
• stdlib-first: no mandatory Shapely/pyproj/geojson dependency for the core pipeline.

Machine-readable capability and boundary lists (same strings as GeoJSON metadata):

middle-passage inspect-sources --json

What is not in this package (yet)

Stated loudly so nobody mistakes Phase 0 for finished science:

• No GEBCO/NOAA (or other) tile bathymetry—depths are heuristic bands for pipeline tests.
• No measured or hindcast currents—bearing and speed are named-corridor placeholders.
• No validated deposition, dispersal, or search physics for site identification.
• No identification of human remains and no “proof” language in the model layer—only memorial / protection-first framing in outputs.

License: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0
Purpose: Humanitarian. Scientific. Memorial.
Status: Phase 0 scaffold with synthetic-safe defaults.

Real vs placeholder (quick reference)

Piece	In this package
CSV loading, filtering, CLI, GeoJSON structure	Implemented for reproducible pipelines
Bathymetry	Heuristic depth bands, not GEBCO/NOAA tiles — see middle_passage/bathymetry/gebco.py
Currents	Constant bearing + speed from named corridors — not a hindcast or reanalysis
Descent / scatter	Illustrative parameters to exercise the pipeline — not validated settling physics
Geometry	Sphere-based offsets and rings (stdlib + math)

Principles

• People, not cargo.
• Ancestors, not artifacts.
• Probability zones, not treasure maps.
• Public methods, careful precision.
• Protection before spectacle.

Install

pip install middle-passage

Install a specific branch from GitHub (optional):

pip install "middle-passage @ git+https://github.com/Yufok1/middle-passage.git@main"

Local development:

pip install -e ".[dev]"

CLI

Synthetic-safe sample GeoJSON:

middle-passage sample --output sample.geojson

Survey-priority zones from a voyage CSV:

middle-passage model-deposits --voyages voyages.csv --output zones.geojson

Optional voyage filters (CSV rows only; --corridor sets the placeholder current bearing):

middle-passage model-deposits --voyages voyages.csv --output zones.geojson \
  --filter-route doldrums_zone --min-mortality 0.1 --jettison-only \
  --year-from 1700 --year-to 1800

Ethics, version, capabilities, and limits:

middle-passage inspect-sources

If no voyage file is provided, the CLI uses a clearly marked synthetic sample for development only.

Data Sensitivity

Labels supported on domain objects:

• public — safe public metadata or generalized zones
• generalized — public map data with reduced precision
• restricted — high-precision working data for qualified review
• do_not_publish — sensitive records or coordinates that should not be released

Precise burial-site candidates should not be published casually. Release policy must follow descendant/community review, legal review, and protection risk assessment.

Release

• Published builds: middle-passage on PyPI.
• Manual upload path (when GitHub Actions / Trusted Publishing are unavailable): see docs/PYPI_RELEASE.md for python -m build and twine upload.