Go take a Hike!

Go explore the great outdoors and make sure you don't get lost with the help of Google Maps 3D and Google Gemini

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Inspiration

I personally believe going outside is the best study break especially with programs like computer science which can sorta feel very disconnected from nature at times. So I built this app to help people find trails in their area.

Category

Location Discovery

How it works

Uses AI to help you find hiking trails in your area then allows you to view them with them in proper elevation with the 3d maps API

How we built it

I built this application using vite, node.js, react, tailwind CSS, Gemini, and obviously the alpha version of the 3D maps API

Challenges we ran into

Firstly prompting, getting google Gemini to produce to output in the specific format I required took some testing. Once that was working some of the coordinates proved inaccurate, sometimes centering the map in a random forest far away from the trailhead. Resolving that issue required switching to the "gemini-exp-1114" model which introduced some lengthy loading time. Ultimately using the geocoding API to retrieve coordinates produced the best results with the shortest loading times. Finally this one specific error was extremely pesky: TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'GI'). Furthermore the api seemed to experience certain issues integrating with react and it made the application a little unstable.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Creating a modern looking ui/ux with some cool animations and integrating the google maps 3D api

What we learned

Everything for this project I had to learn as I can in with almost no experience i.e: Standard js syntax react.js using google cloud ide along to vite to create a local host calling the Gemini api calling the google maps api optimizing the program for time complexity error handling

What's next for Go take a Hike!

At this point in time I'm thinking of 2 upgrades i'd love to make

  1. Using the polyline to map out hiking loops with a slider that allows the user to make the trail more difficult or easier. (calculated based on elevation)
  2. Using carrier coverage map data to map out dead zones on the 3D map so people don't get lost or at least know if the trail they'd like to go on contains dead zones.

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