DAWG-MAPS

INSPIRATION

We were inspired by efforts to improve student safety and contact tracing on campus to create a heatmap that allows users to avoid the most crowded areas. We hope to help students engage with campus facilities and businesses while respecting social distancing guidelines. However, the app can be used anywhere, not just on college campuses!

WHAT IT DOES

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing need for responsible social distancing, DawgMaps provides users with real-time information about large gatherings and crowds in their area to help users avoid them. We designed a native Android mobile app to crowdsource real time location data, compile it into a cloud database, and display it on a webapp that generates population density heat maps. The native app displays the webapp and collects all the other information in the background allowing users access to the heatmaps on any platform. Additionally, the native app has functionality that detects when a user enters a sufficiently dense crowd. When that happens, the app issues a notification to remind the user to wear a mask.

HOW WE BUILT IT

We programmed the native app in Java using Android Studio. We used React and the RADAR.IO API for the heatmap web app. We used Firebase Firestore to store location data. Fast and efficient nearby user lookup is accomplished via variable-precision geohashing. This allows us to quickly and accurately find users near a location at a specified precision.

CHALLENGES WE RAN INTO

Most of our team members were new to React, so we initially had difficulties learning how to integrate the RADAR.IO API in React. Additionally, a central component of this project is Firebase, as it was used as a connection between the webapp and the Android native app, and since our team was inexperienced with using Firebase at all learning on the fly proved to be one of our biggest challenges.

Built With

• firebase
• geocoding
• geomapping
• google-cloud
• radar.io
• react