CovQueue

Initial client view, local shops visible on the map
Client view with shop entrance ticket
Shop management view

Inspiration

We noticed shops are managing their queues in various ways, but none of them found a way to keep people from queueing outside when the shop is full. Standing in such queues for prolonged periods of time is not only increasing clients chance of possible virus exposure and infection but also a tremendous waste of time for them.

What it does

CovQueue is an app that allows reducing queues to enter a shop (but there is possibly a wider use-case for all places that are currently overloaded). It does so, by:

connect shop employees / security (that is already most of the time guarding the entrance and limiting the number of people that can enter) with customers
allow customers to sign into a virtual queue that allows them to go to the shop when the time is right (customers receive a timeframe, during which entrance is prioritized for them, meaning they don't have to wait) and thus support social distancing, reduce number and duration of unnecessary human contact
entrance guarding employees can use the app for counting number of people inside (they are already doing that one way or another: handing out entrance tickets at the door and collecting at the cash registers, by counting a number of people on the phone, etc.) and our servers would schedule timeframes for customers based on the maximum shop capacity and current load
As a result we expect to see the queues get shorter and customers both: get reduced exposure to other (possibly infected) people and save time they would spend in the queue (for example to do more work while working from home)

How we built it

We made an Android app and a backend server using flask and sqlalchemy. We use various libraries to handle rest API traffic, generate QR codes etc.

Challenges we ran into

Coordinating efforts between teammates working from their homes.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We made a fully working prototype with all planned features.

What's next for CovQueue

Improving store account creation flow, adding store verification and authentication, reaching out to more users and getting feedback from potential clients.