Inspiration
We wanted to solve a problem that we as UWindsor's students face on a daily basis, one of these problems is locating parking around campus. Students come to the university at different times and have to go to different spots around campus, students dont know where parking is available and due to the parking restrictions around campus (staff only parking.etc), finding a parking spot is not as easy as it should be. So we made it our mission over the past 24 hours to solve this by building Finder.
What it does
Finder helps you locate parking around campus to that you can go in and out of the university stress-free. It does this by displaying where parking is available in parking lots around the university such as the engineering parking lot. Finder then displays the number of available parking spots and their exact location. Finally Finder allows you to check in to a parking and check out when you leave so that the parking availability is updated in real time.
How we built it
We built Finder to be a webapp. Hence we used Javascript along with HTML and CSS to obtain an interactive webapp that students can access through the internet.
Challenges we ran into
In the process of developing Parking Finder, we encountered several challenges that tested our problem-solving and technical skills. Some of the key hurdles we faced included:
Database Management: Setting up and managing the database posed a significant challenge. We needed to design a robust database structure to efficiently store and retrieve parking-related information while ensuring data integrity.
Hosting Issues: Finding a suitable hosting solution was a challenge. We needed a hosting platform that could handle the expected traffic, ensure the system's reliability, and provide scalability options as the user base grows.
User Check-in for Parking: Implementing a user check-in system for parking required careful consideration of user authentication, security, and real-time updates. Ensuring a seamless and secure process for users to check in and reserve parking spots was a complex task.
Interactivity and User Experience: Creating an interactive and user-friendly interface was crucial for the success of Parking Finder. We faced challenges in designing a system that provides a smooth and intuitive experience for users while effectively displaying parking availability and related information.
Despite these challenges, our team successfully navigated through them, implementing solutions to ensure the effective functioning of Parking Finder. The experience has enhanced our skills in database management, hosting, user authentication, and interactive design.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We built a functional webapp that has a seamless user experience and a simple design in a very short amount of time, as simple as it sounds, we think its a great accomplishment.
What we learned
We learnt a lot about the programming languages we used include JS,HTML and CSS. We also learnt a lot about internet deployments, servers and databases.
What's next for Finder
Many exciting things. We believe theres a lot of extensions to finder including integrating Finder with Honk (the parking payment app for UWindsor), integrating Finder with parking hardware so that the users have to do less work to sign in/out, and finally, a Finder mobile app would be a great idea to make Finder even more accessible.
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