I created a site ( https://zwemindex.nl ) with all the pools and open water places in The Netherlands (it's in Dutch). It started off with the idea that I wanted to do a places search but without Google Places. I learned about GIS, build a lookup array with placenames, slugs and latlon. Just simple PHP and autocomplete.js. I started out with some Open Data from the Dutch governent on all open water swimpots. I thought the current site (still is) not user-friendly on mobile. I also added all the public pools. I got some traction because I got interviewed as an example project and I reached out to news sites. Actually my backend is a Google sheet, which I sync to MongoDB (works nice with geo). Did a write up on that: https://www.kasperkamperman.com/blog/web/import-csv-in-mongo... Rest is all vanilla PHP, cached to HTML, Bulma css. Running on shared hosting, with Cloudflare cache in front. I really worked on accessibility too, allowing keyboard navigation (press TAB) and making sure everything is readable and with good contrast (Bulma 2.0 fixed that). I make about $500 with some affiliate links (waterparks with hotels, wellness) which really fit with the search intent of the user. The last thing I want is stuffing the site full with Google ads.