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Landing Page for Envirowatch
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Example Petition for Alaska Data Point; Willow Project
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Example Petition for California Data Point; Offshore Drilling
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Example Petition for Louisiana Data Point; Cancer Alley Pollution
Inspiration
We were inspired by the sustainability track and the idea that we could create a webpage that would allow people to directly impact issues on a national scale. We wanted to allow everyone the ability to create a positive change and we thought an interactive map would be a fun and easy-to-use way to accomplish that goal.
What it does
This project accesses a data file containing a variety of environmentally unfriendly projects and policies across the United States and displays them on an interactive map where users can click on individual pins to see more information and access petitions about the specific cause.
How we built it
We used the Mapbox API with Mapbox GL JS to help us design the layout of the interactive map and filled a GEOJSON file with various data points that we researched on the website Change.org. We used some HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create an appealing-looking webpage to host the map, data, and some information about our mission.
Challenges we ran into
One challenge we ran into was the scope of our project initially being too large. We had to restrict our area of focus to only the United States due to being unable to research more data points within the time limit. Although our initial idea was to automate the data collection and have it update in real time, the restrictions we placed on what petitions would get featured on our website made it too difficult to implement an algorithm that would properly curate data in the time given.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We were proud of being able to create an application which looks great and can help create social good in the community. We think that our website could help raise awareness and increase engagement with projects for social good by making it easy to find and participate in various causes on a wide geographic scale.
What we learned
We learned a lot about implementing interactive maps and also how to plan and execute a project in a limited scope of time. In addition, while researching for this project, we all learned a lot about the various issues currently being debated across the United States in relation to environmental action.
What's next for EnviroWatch
To expand this project, we would work on automating the data collection process both to keep the website up-to-date and be able to expand our reach to a global scale. We would also like to create an admin interface where data points could be manually curated or edited to ensure only the best data is on our site. We could also expand our scope beyond just petitions to link to pages for funding various causes or informational webpages.
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