Common Grounds

Inspiration

The inspiration for Common Grounds came from the need to create a more intuitive and engaging way to discover local places, specifically near our campus. We wanted to bridge the gap between traditional map interfaces and detailed place information, making it easier for students and community members to explore their neighborhood. The app draws inspiration from modern location-based apps but focuses specifically on creating a seamless experience between map exploration and detailed place discovery. We wanted to focus on public health in wellness sense, as community building is a vital part of mindfulness.

What it does

Common Grounds is a location discovery app that allows users to explore places and events in the area through both map and list views. The app features an interactive map, a detailed list

How we built it

We built Common Grounds primarily using SwiftUI and Google Maps SDK for iOS. We ran Swift on XCode for more responsive layouts and to build the iOS framework, and were able to use Google Maps Integration as part of SwiftUI. We used Figma for design, following principles closely and creating a in depth design system.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating into Google Maps was quite a challenge as we had to learn how to use UIKit and UIViewRepresentable. Passing data between the map view and SwiftUI parent view required careful callback implementation.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are quite proud that we implemented a full design system via Figma and were able to complete our prototype. Although the features weren't fully fleshed out on code, we stuck closely with the design aspects.

What we learned

We learned how to apply proper view layering, memory management, and performance optimization techniques, specifically for interactive maps and integration of UIKits.

What's next for Common Grounds

We would love to expand with more locations as well as adding a social component. As the primary goal is to facilitate community, we would love to add reviews and social sharing, as well as real-time crowd tracking.