CleanMap

✅ CleanMap — Map, report, and clean your community together.

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Inspiration

I’m from Delhi, where littering is a daily challenge — but through this hackathon, I learned about the Bronx facing similar issues with community cleanup efforts.

I was especially inspired by the Bronx River Alliance and the long legacy of community-driven environmental action in the Bronx. It made me wish more places, including the Bronx itself, had easy ways to coordinate and scale these kinds of local efforts.

On my last mountain hike, I saw firsthand just how much trash builds up even in nature.

I realized: this is a global problem that needs local, community-powered solutions.

Here's a short trailer I made https://youtu.be/hA5FsFxfVG8

Here’s me trying out the app live in a park (sorry for the video quality, no subtitles):
https://youtu.be/0sntNWL4E8s

What it does

CleanMap allows anyone to mark trash spots on a shared community map, locate them easily, and join local cleanup efforts.
It gives people the opportunity to contribute, organize, and make a visible difference, one spot at a time.

How we built it

  • Firebase for authentication and Firestore backend
  • Google Maps API to plot trash locations interactively
  • Responsive HTML/CSS/JS frontend with modular Firebase integration
    The app tracks user-submitted trash spots, their severity, and lets people join as volunteers.

Challenges we ran into

This was my first time integrating Google Maps with Firebase and setting up cloud authentication.
There were challenges with:

  • Getting Google Maps to load correctly with modular imports
  • Handling user sessions across pages
  • Designing an interface that’s clean, intuitive, and mobile-friendly
  • Learning deployment workflows with Firebase Hosting

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Fully working, live-deployed app
  • Smooth Google and email sign-in
  • Real-time trash spot tracking and joining
  • Clean, modern design that works across devices
  • Creating something with real-world impact potential

What we learned

  • How to combine Firebase modular SDK with vanilla JS
  • How to handle secure Firestore reads/writes
  • Google Maps API best practices
  • Building UI that balances simplicity with functionality

What's next for CleanMap

A lot of things on mind for its future

  • Add photo uploads for each trash spot
  • Build a leaderboard to encourage more community participation
  • Send email notifications when new nearby spots are added
  • Add admin tools for cleanup organizers
  • Integrate a dynamic recent activity feed to show new spots, volunteers, and cleanup milestones
  • Add a time scheduler with polls so communities can vote on the best cleanup times
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