Inspiration
I've been working as a delivery driver during nights and on weekends for the past three years. Each time I am on delivery, I can't help but think about how much potentially interesting data I am failing to gather. Just by recording the addresses of deliveries, the prices of orders and the amount tendered, and the times, I could do a lot of interesting analysis. Rather than having anecdotal evidence about what times of the day and neighborhoods are busiest, most profitable, or yield the best tips, I could have empirical data.
My workflow of typing the address into my GPS and keeping track of how much money I am carrying has also been something of a pain point. I constantly see room for improvement and am always trying to be as efficient as possible. With Delivery Sidekick, my goal is to kill two birds with one stone: collecting otherwise wasted data and making my repetitive daily tasks just a little bit smoother. As a bonus, by sampling GPS, I can compute the true mileage that I am putting on my car and claim that distance on my taxes.
Technology
I am developing this project as a mobile app using Google Flutter. Though the Maps functionality for Flutter is currently limited to Android, by starting out using a cross-platform framework I can easily port to iOS in the future. Flutter also has good integration with Firebase, which I am using for the database.
Status
What works:
- Creating an account and signing in via email or Google
- Adding a job and entering its parameters (address, phone number, bank size, and mileage compensation)
- Starting and ending shifts
- Entering and starting delivery runs (sets of deliveries to be made in sequence)
- Opening Google Maps in navigation mode
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