La Pescapp

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  Logo of the project

We are a virtual team of 7 members; we are composed of members from different fields of study: Industrial Design, Informatic Enginennering, Integral Design, Business Engineering and Marine Biology.

Inspiration

We wish to react to mislabelling occurring in marine products, thus avoiding consumer confusion and exposition to possible fraud. Simultaneously, we want to aid in other worthy problems via this individually-aimed solution, problems such as illegal overfishing and the scarce knowledge that the consumer has about the various edible species of fish.

What it does

“La Pescapp” (a wordplay: Pesca- “fishing” and -App “application”) is an identification guide of fish species, both whole or filleted. Apart from this information, the app gives suggestions to the user based on fishery status, previous exploitation and similarity in taste to other species, preferable in consumption due to their stronger stock status. To further encourage varied fish consumption, the app gives the user a range of recipes to pick from and indicates where the user can buy the product.

How we built it

After identifying the possible needs of the consumer, we came up with various ideas to help the consumer recognize a fish of interest. The best of these formed the backbone of our application – the fish identification guide. The possible consumer thought-pathways were analysed and the app’s sections designed with them in mind. Additionally to this backbone, we felt inspired to add features to the application that would combat overfishing and other bad habits of the industry, thus giving rise to the suggestions and information given by the application. At the moment, the prototype is written in html+javascript+css, but the final version will be supported by Android, iOS and Windows Phone platforms.

Challenges we ran into

Fish fillets can make for difficult identification, giving rise to a need for a survey of their characteristics to give appropriate advice to the consumer. These characteristics have been established for a number of Chilean species at this moment. To make a simple and intuitive interface, that allows all the options we had planned.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the simplicity of our proposal and its functionality, which lies in its usage of information already widely available. Another aspect worthy of pride is how, on an individual level, our application guides users towards an informed consumption, but takes into account factors that have great significance on other, more extensive, levels (such as stock data, fishing season and minimum size). Thus, the application helps the individual, therefore igniting the user’s personal interest, but gives heed to the planet’s needs at the same time.

What we learned

We got a glimpse of different variables and actors of the fishing industry in order to develop a product that helps the industry to become more sustainable. We learned that a good way to promote change in said industry is through an individual and that a good way to get the individual to take action is through his personal interests. It became clear that anybody can help and that expertise is not requisite, as our young team has shown during the development of an application that truly can have a positive impact on consumer consciousness.

What's next for La Pescapp

Integrate a database (such as Sernapesca’s (Chile’s National Fishing and Aquicultural Service)) regarding stock status, minimum sizes, seasons and quotas and connect this with the user’s location. Create a link between similar species (as to their gastronomic characteristics) to enable the app to make suggestions based on species status.

Include other resources, such as algae, molluscs and crustaceans.

Create an option for sellers to publish their offers and location, and simultaneously enabling users to rate these sellers.

Built With

• css
• html
• javascript