Podcast Radar

Podcast Radar is a web-based discovery platform that helps users find podcasts located near a given geographic position. It uses the Podcasting 2.0 RSS location tag to identify shows tied to specific places, then performs all distance calculations and search logic locally in the user's browser rather than on a server. Users can allow browser location access or manually enter coordinates in common formats to search.

The platform operates as a static web app with no backend database collecting user data; location input never leaves the user's device. It fetches its open podcast dataset from podcastindex.org, caching results in the browser for an hour, and retrieves cover art directly from each podcast's own hosting source. For place-name lookups, it queries OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service, sending only a podcast's public place identifier rather than any user location data.

Podcast Radar includes a globe-style 3D visualization and map outlines rendered from assets served on its own domain rather than a third-party CDN. Searches are encoded into the page URL so they can be bookmarked or shared, though shared links will contain the searched coordinates. Some podcasts in the dataset list only a place name without coordinates and are excluded from distance-based results and counts.

The service serves podcast listeners seeking geographically relevant shows and uses no cookies or tracking scripts. It serves as a discovery layer built on top of the broader Podcasting 2.0 ecosystem and the Podcast Index dataset.