Inspiration
As biologists, our fieldwork often involves gathering data for research projects and exploring the natural world for personal growth. However, keeping a systematic record of our observations has proven to be a significant challenge. fThis challenge inspired us to create a highly efficient and organized solution for cataloging and managing our valuable data.
What it Does
FieldTracker is fundamentally a notes app enriched with geotagging, media attachment capabilities, and advanced database querying functionality. Its intuitive user interface and cross-platform compatibility empower both novice and expert users to effortlessly create field notes, input scientific observations, and even attach photos, videos, or audio clips to their records. FieldTracker not only enables you to search through your database of observations but also provides geographical visualization on a map. For advanced users, it offers the capability to conduct complex searches and run analytics on their notes.
How We Built It
We built the current version of FieldTracker as a web application using Streamlit for our front-end, with MongoDB as our back-end. This version serves as our demonstration for GirlHacks 2023. In future iterations,we're excited to leverage React Native for mobile app development, incorporating Realm DB and MongoDB to enhance its functionality. Our Figma demo serves as a sneak peek into the exciting evolution of FieldTracker as a mobile application.
Challenges We Ran Into
Learning New Technologies: One of the biggest challenges we encountered was using entirely new technologies such as Figma, MongoDB, Streamlit, and GitHub. As biologists, our coding expertise primarily revolves around data analytics. The transition to web and mobile app development presented a steep learning curve, but we embraced it with enthusiasm.
Accomplishments
Despite being biologists with limited prior experience in web and mobile app development, we successfully adopted and implemented a range of new technologies, including Figma, MongoDB, Streamlit, and GitHub. This highlights our ability to adapt and learn quickly in a different domain.
What we learned
Tech Skills Acquisition: We’ve gained proficiency in a range of new technologies, including Figma, MongoDB, Streamlit, and GitHub.
Adaptability: Coming from a background in biology, the leap into web and mobile app development represented a substantial transition. This experience has cultivated our team's ability to swiftly acclimate to unfamiliar domains and enthusiastically tackle challenges beyond our established expertise. We recognize that this adaptability extends beyond our current project; it equips us to seamlessly integrate novel software tools for analysis and tracking of organisms and ecosystems of study, as well as explore uncharted territories in our research endeavors.
What's Next for FieldTracker
In our upcoming iterations, we plan on using React Native to transform FieldTracker into a mobile app. This version will seamlessly integrate MongoDB Realm, connecting the MongoDB Atlas database with client-side Realm data. We envision a future where FieldTracker becomes an indispensable tool for biologists and researchers, streamlining data management and analysis during their fieldwork.
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