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Conflict heatmap example
Inspiration
After seeing the harsh working conditions of Walmart employees firsthand, we were inspired to build an app that would bring employees together to solve their workplace problems among themselves and with specialized representatives that may be able to assist them in their workplace struggles.
What it does
It takes employee conflict and location data to help display other employees who are around you with similar workplace conflicts and provides a chat room with each of these users who are experiencing the similar conflict.
It allows employees to communicate with each other about workplace problems that they share, and also allows them to view data about their surrounding workplace communities.
How we built it
The back-end was built by Nelson using Parse, which utilizes Node.js and a MongoDB database, which are both easily accessed and visualized using their online dashboard. Parse provides easy deployment of mobile and web apps using their Javascript and mobile SDKs which simplify database interactions and utilization of services such as location and login security.
The actual app was build by Daniel using apache cordova and Ionic. Cordova is a technology that allows you to build mobile apps using HTML/Javascript. Ionic builds upon cordova by adding in angular.js, a popular web framework that makes organizing large applications much more manageable. These technologies enabled us to build a polished, aesthetically pleasing app in the time allotted by a hackathon.
We also took advantage of the google maps API for finding locations, and visualizing the data.
Challenges we ran into
Integrating the backend framework with the front end. Getting google maps to work with angular properly took a bit of time.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Providing cool looking data visualization, because it allows people to see the volume and possible impact of conflicts around their communities and beyond.
What we learned
How to integrate a cordova app with Parse (which neither of us knew how to do). How to use the advanced features of the google maps API to better visualize data in an awesome way.
What's next for CoPower
Future integration of skilled representatives that may be able to provide legal advice to people with conflicts. This would be a possible monetization route, and we could use the money gained to hire specialized staff to assist with conflicts.
Could potentially provide unions access to the workers who have all these conflicts to gather data about said conflicts or to assist these workers as best they can.
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