Aggie GeoNest

Inspiration

Strolling down Central San Francisco in the midst of the Christmas season, I feel pure joy emitting from through the crowded streets; children run around, laughing and playing with their helicopter toys from the ample street-side shops. Despite the seemingly widespread joy, not all on those San Francisco streets are happy during the holiday season. Known for its high population of homeless inhabitants, the streets are lined with hundreds of homeless people hoping to benefit from seasonal generosity. Translating this impact to Aggie House at UC Davis, our team would love to spread this same seasonal generosity through all four seasons to ensure that unhoused populations that are still in school do not have to depend solely on the kindness of strangers to get by. Learning about the struggles that Aggie House volunteers and residents currently encounter inspired our team to build a multi-faceted workflow system that not only helps residents live peacefully, but also preserves the safety of residents as well.

What it does Our product, Aggie GeoNest, is a thoroughly developed application featuring an advanced automated geo-location tracker. This tracker automatically checks in and checks out volunteers and residents based on their proximity to the Aggie House. It also includes a task manager and shift calendar, allowing volunteers to keep track of their responsibilities and ensure the wellbeing of the residents. Additionally, the app integrates Gunrock AI, a chatbot powered by OpenAI, designed to answer any questions from volunteers or residents using a prompt-response formatted JSONL. There is an in-app chat feature that enhances communication between the administration, volunteers, and residents. Lastly, the app provides feedback forms for both residents and volunteers, helping Aggie House continually improve and enhance the experience for all members. Finally, we also developed an administrative dashboard that takes volunteer hours based on the clock in and clock out time. All tools are easily manipulatable by the administration, making shift and task distribution easy for all.

How we built it

We build our tool with an ample amount of languages, databases, and APIs. We built GeoNest on React-Native, specifically using Expo to develop our app on a mobile app simulator. Our code was primarily in JS and HTML, with our Gunrock AI first written using Python then eventually translated to JS as well. We utilized Firebase for our database, connecting our log-in systems, shift systems, calendar systems, clock in and clock out time, and administrative dashboards between the administration and the users.

Challenges we ran into

Throughout the process of building this project, one of the key challenges we encountered involved testing our geo-location tracker. Testing this tool meant walking a fair distance at least over 150 meters away, in order to guarantee a successful test, which meant that each test would take approximately 5 to 10 minutes. This meant that the creation of this tool was an exhausting process, but one that was definitely worthwhile when we completed it at the end. On top of this, we encountered numerous git push issues, one time unfortunately wiping and invalidating some .js files, forcing us to take multiple steps back.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Developing an advanced automated geo-location tracker was no small feat. We're proud of creating a robust system that accurately checks in and checks out volunteers and residents based on their geo-location and proximity to the Aggie House. This feature enhances the efficiency and security of our application, ensuring smooth operations. Implementing a task manager and shift calendar within the application was also essential for organizing volunteers' responsibilities effectively. We're proud of developing a user-friendly interface that allows volunteers to keep track of their tasks and shifts effortlessly. This feature promotes accountability and ensures that all necessary tasks are completed in a timely manner, contributing to the overall success of the project. Integrating various functionalities seamlessly within the application posed significant challenges. We're proud of overcoming these hurdles and successfully integrating the geo-location tracker, task manager, and shift calendar to create a cohesive and efficient system. This accomplishment highlights our team's dedication to delivering a comprehensive solution that meets the needs of both volunteers and residents. Ultimately, we're most proud of the potential impact Aggie GeoNest can have on the community. On top of this, by streamlining volunteer management processes and enhancing communication and coordination efforts, our product has the power to improve the lives of residents and volunteers alike. Knowing that our work has the potential to make a positive difference in the community is incredibly rewarding and motivates us to continue striving for excellence. These accomplishments signify not only our technical proficiency but also our commitment to creating meaningful solutions that address real-world challenges. We're excited to see how Aggie GeoNest evolves and positively impacts the community in the future. By streamlining volunteer management processes and enhancing communication and coordination efforts, our product has the power to improve the lives of residents and volunteers alike. Knowing that our work has the potential to make a positive difference in the community is incredibly rewarding and motivates us to continue striving for excellence. These accomplishments signify not only our technical proficiency but also our commitment to creating meaningful solutions that address real-world challenges. We're excited to see how Aggie GeoNest evolves and positively impacts the community in the future.

What we learned

We learned the intricacies of developing and integrating advanced geo-location technologies and AI-driven chat functionalities into a single application. Adapting these technologies to work seamlessly in a real-world, dynamic environment taught us a lot about the practical challenges of software development, including dealing with variability in GPS accuracy and optimizing response times of the chatbot. In addition to this, by interacting directly with the volunteers and residents of Aggie House, we deepened our understanding of user-centered design principles. We learned that truly effective solutions arise from a close collaboration with end-users, involving them in the testing and feedback loops, which leads to more intuitive and useful product features. We constantly collaborated with Virginia and Aggie House, in order to get the most optimal application suited for their purposes.

What's next for Aggie GeoNest

We plan to continue to hopefully work with Aggie House in the future, expanding our product, and assisting them with their requirements in the process. From a development standpoint, we plan to integrate more tools to assist with the needs of both the residents and the volunteers, on top of truly refining the tools we have made so far. We believe that we have achieved an exceptional proof of concept from working on GeoNest, and are excited to be a part of its journey in the future!