ExploreChi

Inspiration

We believe Chicago is one of the greatest cities in the world, if not the greatest. We wanted to build something that allows people to truly experience how great the city really is. Great food, great history, great people, a beach in the middle of the city, it is awesome.

What It Does

ExploreChicago connects people to activities, events, and restaurants, both general and personalized to their interests. It includes quests for people of all interests, where users earn XP as they explore the city.

It shows transportation options like live train tracking, CTA routes for buses and trains, Divvy stations with live status, and bike lanes.

Users can also join communities, create group chats, and see their friends’ progress, making exploration more social and interactive.

How We Built It

We built this as a full-stack web app. The frontend was built using React with TypeScript, structured cleanly for scalability and fast iteration. Instead of calling third-party APIs directly from the client, we created a FastAPI backend in Python to securely handle integrations like CTA train data, Ticketmaster events, Google Places, and Mapbox.

We used Supabase with PostgreSQL to manage places, events, and social features like chats, quests, leaderboards, and check-ins. The frontend handles the experience, the backend aggregates and structures data, and the database keeps everything persistent and organized.

Challenges We Ran Into

We faced challenges with database logic for messaging and leaderboards. Some toggle buttons were not working as expected, and finding cost-effective API keys was another hurdle.

Decluttering the map was a major challenge. We wanted to generate recommendations based only on what is currently visible on the map so suggestions always match what the user is seeing, instead of showing all recommendations at once. Making everything work smoothly within the map overlay without breaking toggle switches required careful adjustments.

Accomplishments That We’re Proud Of

Our teamwork was amazing. Whether we win or lose, we all had an incredible experience. It was everyone’s first hackathon, and we were shocked by how much we could accomplish in 24 hours when we were fully focused and determined. We are genuinely excited to do more.

What We Learned

Every team member learned something different. Some of us worked with AI agents, some learned TypeScript, some became more familiar with GitHub, UI and UX design, Supabase, and database schema design. It was a fast learning curve, and we grew a lot in a short amount of time.

What’s Next for ExploreChicago

Next steps are deployment and promotion. This is an app we genuinely believe in. If we fine-tune it and add a few more features, we think it could do really well in the Chicago area, especially with summer coming up.

Built With

• cityofchicago-data
• divvy-api
• googleplaces-api
• react
• supabase
• ticketmaster-api
• typescript