AirMap

Inspiration

On Nov.18th, 2016, right before HackDuke 2016 started, some annoying smoke smell resulting from wildfires in NC forest enveloped Duke campus. However, it was especially upset when people wanted to know the real time air quality and to do something about it but found no convenient access to the information they needed. Air quality has always been the focus of public health issues, because it has an impact on us all. In addition to offering users a more direct and convenient way to monitor the real time air quality on their phones, we feel thrilled at the idea of providing a pathway for citizens to actually participate in environmental improvement, to reach out to those who will be able to make a change, and to contribute to the place they live in.

What it does

AirMap is an android application composed of three parts: a map of average ozone values measured across the U.S. during 2016, a graphical representation of the Air Quality Index in the last 10 years in a user-specified ZIP code, and a resource page which finds the contact information of local representatives in that ZIP code. These parts allow users to find out more about air quality locally and nationally, and use this information to engage with representatives in order to create change.

How we built it

We used Android Studio and programmed in java. The mapping portion is supported by Esri’s ArcGIS Runtime SDK for Android, using data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The figure-finder portion was supported by the whoismyrepresentative.com API.

Challenges we ran into

One of the greatest problems we ran into was finding the data we needed. Since air quality changes through time, and it is imperative for people to know the current state, we wanted to be able to access real-time data regarding measures of air quality. We ended up being unable to find a database that becomes updated continually, so we had to manually download and upload the data we used.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud that we created this app! None of us had prior experience with Android development, and we are really happy that we were able to make a user-friendly and engaging app despite having to learn everything on the spot.

What we learned

While working at your first hackathon, the learning curve can be very steep. We realized this as we tried to create our first app as a team of all new-hackers. However by the next day, we realised that even without much experience you can build something that you are proud of and that someone else can benefit from if you work hard enough. As long as you have an interesting idea, you can achieve some implementation of it.

What's next for AirMap

We would like to include more air quality indicators in the mapping aspect, as well as work with the EPA to make their data more easily accessible by using a database. Realize the function of directly sending an email to a senator from the app.