Coming Home

Home page
Form for owner who lost their pet
Form for people who found a stray pet
Page for posted lost pets
Page for found stray pets

Inspiration

Our journey to create Coming Home was deeply personal from the start. It was sparked by an event that struck one of our team members, whose cat, Taro, nearly got lost. The anxious days spent searching for Taro, coupled with the overwhelming relief upon finding him, highlighted a significant issue faced by many pet owners. Despite the joy of Taro's safe return, the ordeal shed light on the countless pets that go missing each day and the emotional turmoil their owners endure in their absence. This experience served as a powerful motivator, driving us to leverage our skills and resources to develop a solution that could prevent others from experiencing the same fear and uncertainty. Thus, Coming Home was born—a platform envisioned to bridge the gap between lost pets and their families through community support and technology. Our mission was clear: ensure that no family has to endure the pain of losing a pet, armed with the hope that Coming Home could make a significant difference in the lives of pets like Taro and their owners.

What it does

Coming Home is a web-based application designed to reunite lost pets with their families through:

Lost Pet Reporting: Enables pet owners to report missing pets by providing details and uploading photos.

Found Pet Reporting: Allows finders of pets to report them found, with descriptions and images.

Lost Pets Page: Aggregates and displays all reports of lost pets for easy browsing.

Found Pets Page: Lists all found pet reports, helping owners search for their missing pets.

Species and Date Filters: Offers filtering options to narrow down searches by pet species and the date lost or found.

How we built it

The project was built using a MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, and Node.js).

Planning and Design: We started with brainstorming sessions to define the scope and features of our application.

Frontend: The React app provides a form for users to submit lost pet reports, including photos, and displays a gallery of lost pets with options to view more details or contact the owner.

Backend: An Express server handles API requests, interacts with the MongoDB database to save or retrieve pet data, and serves the built React frontend.

Database: MongoDB stores pet details, including names, descriptions, locations, and base64-encoded images.

Challenges we ran into

Tight Timeline: With only one day allocated for development, prioritizing features and debugging efficiently was paramount. This constraint required us to focus on core functionalities only and leave enhancements for later iterations.

Handling Image Uploads: Integrating image upload functionality and ensuring it was both user-friendly and efficient within the tight timeline presented a significant challenge. The solution involved converting images to base64 strings, although optimizing this for performance required careful consideration.

Working closely as a team: The project was an opportunity for us to work closely under pressure. Communication and teamwork are vital in such circumstances. We held quick stand-up meetings to update each other on progress, tackled blockers as a unit, and constantly merged our code to integrate features without significant conflicts.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite the challenges, there's much we achieved that fills us with pride. We successfully launched Coming Home, a platform that serves a heartfelt mission—reuniting lost pets with their owners. Our application’s user-friendly interface, combined with the functionality for posting and searching for lost pets, stands as a testament to our team's dedication and technical capabilities.

We are particularly proud of the robust backend we built, capable of handling numerous posts and queries efficiently. Our journey through these challenges has brought our team closer, enhancing our collaborative skills, problem-solving abilities, and technical knowledge.

What we learned

Throughout the development of Coming Home, we learned a great deal about how to communicate and work in a team setting, and how to quickly act under a tight timeline with multiple tasks. Other than soft skills, technical-wise, we gained skills in:

React.js: Building a user-friendly frontend to submit lost pet forms and display lost pets.

Node.js: and Express: Setting up a backend server to handle form submissions and fetch data.

MongoDB: Storing and retrieving lost pet information efficiently.

API Design: Creating RESTful APIs to connect the frontend and backend.

Image Handling: Managing image uploads and conversions to base64 for easier storage and retrieval.

What's next for Coming Home

As Coming Home advances, we're thrilled to introduce key features enhancing pet reunification. User Authentication ensures secure interactions, Geolocation Capture refines search precision, and Email Alerts notify users in the same area. Introducing a Forum fosters community, while a Mobile Application caters to on-the-go accessibility. These updates underscore our commitment to leveraging technology for positive social impact, making Coming Home an even more effective and user-friendly platform for reuniting lost pets with their families. Stay tuned for these exciting enhancements!