Inspiration
During COVID, we made new hobbies and lost some old friends. Because we were missing out on physical aspects of social life, we wanted to reconnect with the world from a new angle. Come Unity is a type of app we wish existed when the "new norm" comes back to us.
What it does
- Users can search for upcoming public events, volunteer opportunities, and hangouts near an area.
- Events can be created with time and place.
- Users can RSVP to events and hold a position in line.
How we built it
We used dockerized applications and collaborated through Jira and Github. Spring Java was used to quickly integrate into our database and create REST APIs. React library with MapBox and Material UI was used to quickly stand up a web app. MongoDB was leveraged for storing location data and geo-querying for finding nearby locations. remote-docker extension on VSCode was used to quickly iterate development and avoid problems of running across multiple devices.
Challenges we ran into
We wanted to create an interactive map with queries and datasets we weren't familiar with. In the backend team, we were faced with the challenges of finding a quick solution for handling location data. With some search, we were able to find patterns of geo-querying and geo-hashing. Because nobody in the team had experience with this type of data, MongoDB was picked for ease of use. In the frontend team, we were using MapBox for the first time. The team spent a long time understanding the API and how to use it in a React framework. Major technical hurdles in this area were especially draining because sometimes we didn't have full control over the timeline and the situation.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
All our application was dockerized to easily run locally for all developers and changes pushed into master was always in a working state to reduce conflicts. We had 2 - 3 hour iterations where we took breaks and reviewed each other's changes and celebrated accomplishments. By sticking to this work iteration we were successful in meeting our goals and we are all proud of that.
What we learned
Blindly believing in the idea was the most challenging thing for the team during development. From the beginning, almost at all times, something wasn't going well, and it was easy to be emotionally held up by the bad news. But by persistently believing in the small achievements, the team was able to stay motivated. The positivity, consistent breaks, and celebrations helped us recollect, reorganize, and sometimes pivot directions to a better product. Something that we learned from this experience was that choosing the idea that we all felt close to and genuinely wanted to work on was what contributed the most to a healthy work environment.
What's next for Come Unity
Currently, Come Unity will naturally have two users: the event organizers and the attendees. We wish to give attention to a third user; another group who can contribute to our goal on an even bigger scale. Our next goal is to create a platform for venue owners and organizers to connect. Venue owners are hungry to reclaim the value in their investments by renting out their fancy and extravagant venues for public events. People looking to reconnect or newly form relationships with others will seek swimming pools for pool parties, kitchens to hold their cooking classes, gaming dens for card tournaments, or grass fields for a movie night on a projector. We believe that establishing these connections will form new confidence in physical connections for lonely consumers.
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