Drawp

Inspiration

There was a bubble tea lounge next to me in my hometown. They had a cute little chalkboard set up where you could draw pictures or leave your friend's phone number for any lucky guys and gals. It was a sad day when the lounge decided to take that chalkboard down. There wasn't any reason given just a deep sense of fleeting sadness towards days gone by in my heart. I wanted to bring that chalkboard back, but on a larger scale. Now no matter where we go, we'll find our bubble tea lounge chalkboard and a beautiful nostalgia.

What it does

Interacts with Google Maps API to display the user in real time. The user will be able to interact with points of interest near him/her whether that be local businesses or natural landmarks. In their interactions they will be able to draw pictures locally and upload them to be associated with the point of interest they are at, or view drawings that have been uploaded previously at the aforementioned point of interest. They will be able to vote on favorite drawings and see who posted what.

How we built it

GoogleMaps API - all location based functionality. getting location in real time and registering what is considered a point of interest.

Android(Java) - source code for piecing together android app functionality and UI responses

Firebase Database - used to store location id and user id associated with drawings as well as other meta information

Firebase Cloud Storage - used to store .jpg images that user's have submitted

Picasso - image manipulation library for android that smoothed interactions and transactions with bitmaps and other image related operations

Challenges we ran into

There was difficulty with regards to database schema and an effective way to efficiently store user and location information whilst tying these points to drawing data. We resolved these after much trial and error and believe we have a relatively scalable and minimal database schema.

There was difficulty implementing a browsing view. Drawings were not scaling well and a traditional android ListView was not at all aesthetically pleasing. We resolved this through the discovery of the amazing Picasso framework and a much needed tutorial on the use of ViewPagers.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Two of our team members had never done Android Development in their life! After a quick crash course and some frustration they were off hacking at it with the best of them. Watching the team pick up new technologies and smashing together frameworks in a timely manner was extremely inspiring.

What we learned

Technical : Integration of Firebase Realtime Database and Cloud Storage into Android applications. Integration of Picasso for use with scaling drawings and loading from Uri's. Integration of Google Maps API into Android applications and other general Android dev knowledge

Other: Ability to quickly learn helpful frameworks on the fly Patience in a team setting Willingness to speak out and debate for the sake of mutual progress

What's next for Drawp

We don't plan on stopping here! There is still a lot of functionality we would like to add and UI polishings that could go a long way! With time allowing we have full intentions to make this much more scalable and an overall more refined product. Keep an eye out and don't be afraid to Drawp by!