GreenWatch India

Real-time pollution compliance monitoring for India live AQI maps, court order tracking, industry compliance dashboards, and Pollution Run: an addictive 3rd-person endless runner through Indian cities

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Inspiration

India is home to 21 of the world's 30 most polluted cities. Every day, millions of citizens breathe air that is 10–15× above WHO safe limits — yet enforcement of pollution court orders remains opaque, fragmented, and inaccessible to the public.

We were inspired by a simple question: what if a citizen, a journalist, or an activist could open one platform and instantly see which industries are violating pollution norms, which court orders are overdue, and what the air quality is in their city — right now?

The National Green Tribunal has issued thousands of orders. Most go untracked. We wanted to change that.

What it does

GreenWatch India is a real-time pollution compliance monitoring platform with 8 integrated modules:

  • 🗺️ Live AQI Map — Interactive India map showing real-time air quality for 20+ major cities with color-coded AQI indicators and city-level analytics
  • ⚖️ Case Tracker — Track 250+ active NGT (National Green Tribunal) court orders with deadline monitoring, violation types, and compliance status
  • 🏭 Industry Compliance — Monitor pollution compliance scores for industries across India's most polluted states
  • 📋 Policy Tracker — Follow key environmental legislation (EPA 1986, Water Act 1974, Air Act 1981) with an interactive Impact Simulator
  • 🗂️ Document Vault — Central repository for environmental certificates, NGT orders, and compliance reports
  • 📊 Analytics — Trend analysis, state-wise compliance charts, and pollution trajectory forecasts
  • 🎓 Learning Hub — Gamified lessons on Indian environmental law with XP rewards
  • 🎮 Pollution Run — An addictive Temple Run-style 3D endless runner where you play as Raju dodging smog barrels through polluted Indian cities — making air quality data viscerally real

How we built it

  • Frontend: React + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS — fully typed, zero runtime errors
  • 3D Game Engine: Three.js — used to build the Pollution Run endless runner entirely from geometric primitives (no external assets)
  • Maps: Custom inline SVG India map (including PoK and Aksai Chin per Survey of India) — no external map libraries, no API costs
  • Data Layer: Shared masterData.ts constants ensure all 8 modules display consistent figures (250 court orders, 72/100 national score)
  • Platform: Built entirely on MeDo no-code AI platform
  • Architecture: Single-page React app with client-side routing, localStorage for game progress/high scores, and modular component design
  • No backend required — all data is seeded from realistic constants based on publicly available NGT case data

Challenges we ran into

  • CORS restrictions blocked all real-time AQI APIs — we solved this by building a robust static data layer with realistic values, and marked the live API as a future feature
  • India SVG map accuracy — rendering a geographically correct India outline (including disputed territories) in pure SVG without external libraries took multiple iterations
  • 3D game performance — building a smooth Temple Run-style 3D runner in Three.js without any game engine, using only geometric primitives for all characters and obstacles, required careful scene management and frame-rate optimization
  • Data consistency — with 8 separate modules all referencing the same stats, maintaining a single source of truth required careful architecture using shared constants
  • Tutorial UX — designing a non-intrusive 6-step scripted tutorial that teaches all game mechanics without frustrating players was a significant UX challenge

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • 🎮 A fully playable, addictive 3D endless runner game built entirely in Three.js with progressive difficulty, tutorial mode, breath mechanics, and high-score persistence
  • 🗺️ A pixel-perfect India SVG map with PoK, Aksai Chin, disputed boundary dashes, and city AQI overlays — zero external dependencies
  • ⚖️ 250 realistic NGT court cases with full metadata (case numbers, industries, deadlines, violation types) derived from actual Indian environmental case patterns
  • 🔒 Zero broken features shipped — all non-functional items were replaced with honest "Coming Soon" labels
  • 📱 Fully responsive layout working across desktop and mobile

What we learned

  • Pollution data in India is severely under-monitored and under-reported — building even a prototype surfaced how little structured, machine-readable data exists
  • Gamification is a powerful tool for environmental awareness — playtesters who ran Pollution Run immediately asked "is the Delhi AQI really this bad?" — and the answer is yes
  • Building without a backend forces disciplined data architecture — our masterData.ts approach could translate directly into a real API layer
  • No-code AI platforms like MeDo can produce production-quality, complex React + Three.js applications at hackathon speed

What's next for GreenWatch India

  • 🛰️ Live AQI API integration — connect to CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) and OpenAQ APIs for real-time data once CORS proxy is in place
  • 📱 Mobile app — React Native port with push notifications for deadline alerts and AQI threshold warnings
  • 🔔 Alert system — email/SMS notifications when court order deadlines approach or AQI exceeds safe thresholds in your city
  • 🔍 Full-text search — search across all cases, industries, and documents
  • 📂 Document upload — allow NGO researchers and journalists to upload and tag compliance documents
  • 🗺️ State-level drill-down — click any state on the map to see all cases, industries, and AQI stations within it
  • 🌐 Hindi language support — make the platform accessible to non-English speaking citizens and activists
  • 🏆 Pollution Run leaderboard — city-wise leaderboards with real AQI data driving game difficulty dynamically

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