Claim Your Spot (Sabi app)

After Claiming Spot
Find A Spot Button Yields

Inspiration

The inspiration came from the daily, universal frustrations faced by students on a growing university campus. We were tired of wasting time wandering the halls, peeping into classrooms and disrupting lectures, only to find study rooms occupied by unattended "ghost bags." We wanted to create a solution that would bring visibility and fairness to our shared campus resources.

What it does

Sabi is a mobile app that serves as a real-time navigator for campus resources. It has two main functions: 1. Find My Spot: Shows students which classrooms, study rooms, and other spots are available right now, and includes a QR-code check-in system to prevent unfair booking. 2. Open Play: Allows the community to schedule and join open games of basketball, volleyball, or soccer on the multi-purpose court, eliminating scheduling conflicts and encouraging participation.

How we built it

We built the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) using a rapid, low-cost approach. - Language: Dart - Framework: Flutter, which allowed us to design and build a cross-platform app for both Android and iOS from a single codebase. - Data: For the prototype, we used hardcoded dummy data to simulate the app's functionality without needing a live backend. -Process: We followed an iterative design process, starting with detailed wireframes, building a functional UI, and then adding interactive state management.

Challenges we ran into

Our main challenges were behavioural and technical. First, we had to figure out how students will be incentivized to use the app as well as prevent them from cheating the QR code system, which we haven't figure out yet. Second, we had to design a system that was fair and prevented "ghost booking," which led to the creation of the "Smart Session Timer" and automatic check-out. Finally, we navigated the typical setup hurdles of a new Flutter development environment.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of creating a fully functional, interactive prototype that directly solves multiple problems in a very short amount of time. We successfully designed a unified app that feels intuitive and addresses the specific needs of our campus. Most importantly, we created a solution that is practical and low-cost, requiring no expensive hardware to implement.

What we learned

We learned the critical importance of user-centred design; for example, we changed our navigation from an administrative view (by faculty) to a student's view (by building/space type), which dramatically improved usability. We also learned that you must anticipate user behaviour and build systems (like the "Challenge" feature) to ensure fairness. Finally, the project reinforced the power of Flutter for rapid prototyping and building beautiful, functional apps efficiently.

What's next for Claim Your Spot

The future for Claim Your Spot (Sabi) is focused on growth and achieving self-sufficiency. Our roadmap is: 1. Pilot Test: Deploy the current MVP to a small group of students to gather real-world feedback and testimonials. 2. Backend Integration: Replace the dummy data with a live connection to a Firebase backend to allow for real-time updates and user accounts.