Add a global timeout that is applied to most API requests.

app/controllers/amf_controller.rb

@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ class AmfController < ApplicationController
 
   session :off
   before_filter :check_api_writable
+  around_filter :api_call_timeout, :only => [:amf_read]
 
   # Main AMF handlers: process the raw AMF string (using AMF library) and
   # calls each action (private method) accordingly.
@@ -198,7 +199,7 @@ class AmfController < ApplicationController
     enlarge = [(xmax-xmin)/8,0.01].min
     xmin -= enlarge; ymin -= enlarge
     xmax += enlarge; ymax += enlarge
-    
+
     # check boundary is sane and area within defined
     # see /config/application.yml
     check_boundaries(xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax)
@@ -228,6 +229,8 @@ class AmfController < ApplicationController
 
     [0, ways, points, relations]
 
+  rescue OSM::APITimeoutError => err
+    [-1,"Sorry - I can't get the map for that area. The server said: #{err}"]
   rescue Exception => err
     [-2,"Sorry - I can't get the map for that area. The server said: #{err}"]
   end

app/controllers/api_controller.rb

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ class ApiController < ApplicationController
   session :off
   before_filter :check_api_readable, :except => [:capabilities]
   after_filter :compress_output
+  around_filter :api_call_handle_error, :api_call_timeout
 
   # Help methods for checking boundary sanity and area size
   include MapBoundary

app/controllers/application.rb

@@ -126,6 +126,12 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
     raise OSM::APIBadMethodError.new(method) unless ok
   end
 
+  def api_call_timeout
+    Timeout::timeout(APP_CONFIG['api_timeout'], OSM::APITimeoutError) do
+      yield
+    end
+  end
+
 private 
 
   # extract authorisation credentials from headers, returns user = nil if none

app/controllers/node_controller.rb

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ class NodeController < ApplicationController
   before_filter :check_api_writable, :only => [:create, :update, :delete]
   before_filter :check_api_readable, :except => [:create, :update, :delete]
   after_filter :compress_output
-  around_filter :api_call_handle_error
+  around_filter :api_call_handle_error, :api_call_timeout
 
   # Create a node from XML.
   def create

app/controllers/old_node_controller.rb

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ class OldNodeController < ApplicationController
   session :off
   before_filter :check_api_readable
   after_filter :compress_output
-  around_filter :api_call_handle_error
+  around_filter :api_call_handle_error, :api_call_timeout
 
   def history
     node = Node.find(params[:id])

app/controllers/old_relation_controller.rb

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ class OldRelationController < ApplicationController
   session :off
   before_filter :check_api_readable
   after_filter :compress_output
-  around_filter :api_call_handle_error
+  around_filter :api_call_handle_error, :api_call_timeout
 
   def history
     relation = Relation.find(params[:id])

app/controllers/old_way_controller.rb

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ class OldWayController < ApplicationController
   session :off
   before_filter :check_api_readable
   after_filter :compress_output
-  around_filter :api_call_handle_error
+  around_filter :api_call_handle_error, :api_call_timeout
 
   def history
     way = Way.find(params[:id])

app/controllers/relation_controller.rb

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class RelationController < ApplicationController
   before_filter :check_api_writable, :only => [:create, :update, :delete]
   before_filter :check_api_readable, :except => [:create, :update, :delete]
   after_filter :compress_output
-  around_filter :api_call_handle_error
+  around_filter :api_call_handle_error, :api_call_timeout
 
   def create
     assert_method :put

app/controllers/way_controller.rb

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class WayController < ApplicationController
   before_filter :check_api_writable, :only => [:create, :update, :delete]
   before_filter :check_api_readable, :except => [:create, :update, :delete]
   after_filter :compress_output
-  around_filter :api_call_handle_error
+  around_filter :api_call_handle_error, :api_call_timeout
 
   def create
     assert_method :put

config/application.yml

@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ standard_settings: &standard_settings
   postcode_zoom: 15
   # Zoom level to use for geonames results from the geocoder
   geonames_zoom: 12
+  # Timeout for API calls in seconds
+  api_timeout: 300
  
 development:
   <<: *standard_settings

lib/osm.rb

@@ -197,6 +197,18 @@ module OSM
     end
   end
 
+  ##
+  # raised when an API call takes too long
+  class APITimeoutError < APIError
+    def render_opts
+      { :text => "Request timed out", :status => :request_timeout }
+    end
+
+    def to_s
+      "Request timed out"
+    end
+  end
+
   # Helper methods for going to/from mercator and lat/lng.
   class Mercator
     include Math