Corps of Cadets Guardroom App

This app overhauls the existing process for the Corps of Cadets Guardroom Escort Service.

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Inspiration

Currently, students call the Guardroom phone number to request a cadet escort. However, this process is only done through verbal phone communication. This often creates confusion due to vague directions and inaccurate verbal descriptions of nearby locations.

What it does

This web-app provides an online platform for students to request a cadet Guardroom Escort. It gives the cadet the exact location of the student and the location of the student's destination. The cadet also receives the student's phone number. Once a student submits an escort request, they will recieve confirmation that their request has been sent to all cadets on Guardroom duty.

How we built it

The team developed an Azure Functions server to support an online submission platform. A website front-end was developed with Node.js to submit requests to the Azure server. Google Maps was used to locate the requester and submit an Escort destination

APIs

Node.js - A Javascript runtime library built for network applications

Plivo - A voice calling and SMS messaging service

Nodemailer - A Node.js SMTP email library

Google Maps - A geolocation solution used to mark positions and destinations

Azure - A Microsoft on-demand compute server hosted to the cloud

Challenges we ran into

Several SMS messaging services were experimented with before the team settled on Plivo as an SMS solution.

Geo-location precision proved difficult to improve until the team switched to Google Maps location data.

Automated Maps centering and location zooming was a challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

SMS messages and emails are automatically sent to each Guardroom cadet once an escort request is posted.

A Google Maps image is automatically created and sent to both the email and phone number of the Guardroom cadet.

The Azure server automatically replies to the student after their submission has been received.

What we learned

How to incorporate several software stacks to produce a working prototype.

What's next for Corps of Cadets Guardroom App

Using live data transmission so both student and cadet know where each other are in real-time.

Creating a mobile-app for push-notifications.

Adding SMS communication in mobile-app (offline functionality).

Integrating this service with CAS, so students don't need to manually log in.

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