Connect

Inspiration

More than 2.2 billion users have reported dissatisfaction with social media platforms. Comparisons between levels of happiness and popularity have taken away the essence to express and share ideas that really matter. The absence of inclusion and belonging, especially after covid, motivated my team and I to build an interface that brings the world together through live experiences.

What it does

Connect is a geolocation-based social networking platform that organises and facilitates in-person interactions. You can view users close by or people in your network that live far away by simply enabling the discovery mode. You can create events as well and meet new people around you. The program allows us to see users who are within a certain radius. We have also created a feed to explore events posted by connections or users that share similar interests so that individuals can immerse themselves in groups of their choice and propagate real change through face to face interactions.

How we built it

The application was designed in Figma, and the prototype was built with Bravostudio. Much of the backend is written in python using Flask and psycopg2 for a PostgreSQL server, React-Chat-Engine was used to create the chat section in Javascript. Google Firebase managed the login/signup system to make the app safe and secure, and the API for Google places was used for some geolocation processing.

Challenges we ran into

We wanted to incorporate pagination, however owing to time constraints, we were unable to do so. We also had some issues testing the app on various devices, and we weren't sure how Bravostudio interpreted the design files at times. One of the challenges we encountered was making the application robust. On iPhones, it would work perfectly, however on Androids, the designs were distorted. We eventually overcame the obstacle and were able to deliver our proposal on an android.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

It was a fantastic learning experience!  With only two of us on the team, we had to work extra hard to complete the project on time. Working on this app, we learned SQL for the first time. We also had to tackle several problems logically and come up with innovative ideas. Bravostudio makes it challenging to construct a real-time chat application, so coming up with a solution was fun. We also learnt more about Javascript's asynchronous functions. Albeit there are some bugs, we are delighted we incorporated the features we did.

What we learned

Attending Sola's Prototyping Workshops and Sakshat's Guide to making APIs were both excellent resources that complemented our work in a variety of ways. This project was a major learning experience for us; not only did we have to grind through tutorials and YouTube videos , but we also had to figure out how to function as a team effectively. We were able to build code for Connect with the help of theories we learned in our first year as CS students. By putting what we learned in class into practice, we were able to build a project that has a positive impact on the lives of others around us, just as they have on ours. We also learnt various new concepts and frameworks, as previously indicated. For both of us, it was also the first time using Flask for a more complicated program. We learnt how to prevent some common blunders and had the opportunity to put our problem-solving abilities to the test.

What's next for Connect

We definitely plan to share the app with our extended social circles thus the most important next step for Connect is to smooth out the rough edges and get it onto the App Store and Playstore. To make Connect production-ready, we'll build up the backend and tidy up the interface for a more polished appearance. In addition, we'd want to include age restrictions, a more robust geolocation tool, and other features to improve the app's user experience.

Built With

• bravostudio
• css
• figma
• firebase
• flask
• html
• javascript
• postgresql
• python
• react