BentoBuddies

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Inspiration

We all know the struggle of meeting new people and coordinating time with your friends to go eat between classes. We want to make that easier by creating a website where students can connect with others around campus and hit up new spots.

What it does

BentoBuddies connects UBC students based on their favourite campus food spots and availability. Users select the restaurants they like and the times they’re free, and other users on the platform can join them for a meetup! It's a simple way to make new friends, explore campus food options, or find a last-minute buddy to grab lunch with between classes.

How we built it

We built BentoBuddies using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the frontend, and designed our interface in Figma. We integrated the Google Maps API to display nearby food spots around campus and help students navigate to their meet-up locations.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was ensuring our design translated smoothly from Figma to code and we spent a lot of time refining the UI to make it both visually appealing and easy to navigate. We also ran into initial difficulties with integrating and configuring the Google Maps API and the login page, as well as figuring out branching, pushing, and pulling with Git as a team.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully integrated the Google Maps API
We created a clean, user-friendly interface that reflects our initial Figma designs
Our team collaborated effectively using Git without major errors (a huge win for us!)
We built a meaningful project that solves a realistic student problem on campus

What we learned

We learned how to take a project from design to deployment, from prototyping in Figma to implementing the UI in code. We gained experience working with APIs, structuring a website, and using Git collaboratively. We also learned how to divide tasks, merge code carefully, and troubleshoot issues as a team.

What's next for Bento Buddies

We plan to:

Build a fully functional matching algorithm that accounts for shared interests, availability, and proximity
Expand the list of campus food spots and integrate real-time data