Inspiration
The relationship between people within the neighbourhood became much more indifferent as people began "connecting" through social app platforms. However, the value of close relationship within the neighbourhood may be underestimated. Maybe one day you found out that you don't have the correct screwdriver when you're fixing your closet, or maybe your fridge went down late at night with full stock of meat nowhere to store. Everyone will meet urgent or awkward situations where a simple help from someone nearby will save the day. Most importantly, making the neighbourhood a merrier place to live in will also be a boost for your own happiness. Therefore we built this platform which everyone could use to interact with people within their neighbourhood.
What it does
Once registered into the platform, users will be assigned with credits that they will use to "trade" when they send or accept requests. Everyone is allowed to send requests, e.g., borrowing items, asking for extra care for your pet, anything that someone nearby will be able, and easy to reach out. The request will be sent to other users within a certain range to the request sender. This is done by managing users' locations and managing the distances. Other users who recieve the request will be able to choose to accept or decline the request, but in most cases the requests could be dealt in less than 5 minutes. The credit system is set to make sure that everyone contributes to the neighbourhood.
*Note: Because there isn't a back-end server, the functions can only be tested by changing different accounts.
How I built it
The front-end is a html web app using Google Maps API to manage users' locations. We have attempted to build a back-end server using Ruby on Rails, but didn't manage to make it work. The final product will be the complete front-end website with a mock back-end using local storage.
Challenges I ran into
The four of us are totally inexperienced in web app development so everything are learnt and created on site. The learning process is the largest challenge, especially for the Ruby on Rails back-end, which didn't get to work. Also, we had a wide range of APIs to choose from, and a lot time was spent on comparing APIs and planning on our project
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
We are proud of what we have accomplished, building a web app from zero experience and knowledge. Though the back-end didn't work for us but we believe that we are already close to success.
What's next for EZHelp
There is a large space of improvement for EZHelp, the algorithm could be optimised, the credit system could be improved, and user experience could also be improved through the interface. Also, a mobile app could be applied for this platform.
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