Inspiration
Our inspiration for HerRoute comes from our own experiences and the stories we have heard from other women. Walking at night can be an extremely stressful and frightening experience, especially in unfamiliar areas. In many situations, alternative transportation options are either unavailable or too expensive to rely on regularly, leaving walking as the only option.
We noticed that while existing navigation apps are excellent at getting people from point A to point B quickly, they rarely consider how safe a route actually feels. When a map directs you down a dark, isolated street, there is no context about lighting, activity, or nearby help. Women already make these safety calculations instinctively, but traditional maps don’t reflect them.
HerRoute was created to bridge this gap by treating safety as a fundamental part of navigation, not an afterthought. We wanted to build a tool that acknowledges the realities of walking at night and gives users greater awareness and confidence in the routes they choose
What it does
HerRoute uses publicly available data, such as street lighting, crime statistics, and other key safety indicators, to generate optimal walking routes that balance safety and speed. Along each route, the app highlights potential safety concerns, helping users feel more informed and confident when navigating unfamiliar areas. In addition to public data, HerRoute incorporates user-submitted feedback on routes and locations, enriching its safety analysis and continuously improving route recommendations. All data is stored in a MongoDB database, allowing insights and contributions to persist and evolve over time.
How we built it
- Frontend: React, Tailwind CSS, Leaflet
- Backend: Node.js, Express.js, Firebase, Google Cloud, MongoDB
- APIs: Google Directions API, OpenStreetMap/Overpass API
Challenges we ran into
- Connecting the frontend and backend to successfully generate and display real navigation routes
- Learning how to work with Google APIs and cloud services while integrating them into the application
- Facing deployment issues when attempting to deploy the application on DigitalOcean
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of designing and implementing a backend that performs route optimization using multiple safety factors beyond just distance or time. We built a functional system that combines mapping APIs, safety data, and user feedback into a single interactive experience. Successfully integrating multiple APIs to create a safety-aware map was a major milestone, but most importantly, we are proud that HerRoute addresses a real problem many women face daily, turning an often invisible concern into something tangible and actionable.
What we learned
- How to use Firebase for backend services and authentication
- How to work with Google Cloud services and Google APIs
- How to design and interact with a MongoDB database
- How to integrate databases and APIs into a full-stack application
- Gaining experience working with mapping, navigation, and cloud-based tools
What's next for HerRoute
Next, we hope to expand HerRoute’s safety model by incorporating more real-time and temporal data, such as day-night patterns and weekday versus weekend trends. We also want to grow the user feedback system, strengthening data validation and moderation to ensure user-submitted information remains reliable and trustworthy, and explore partnerships with municipalities to provide city planners with insights on where safety infrastructure, like lighting or patrols, could have the greatest impact. We would like to improve security and prevent misuse, including protecting the platform from bots and malicious data submissions. Our long-term goal is for HerRoute to not only help individuals navigate cities more safely, but also to inform smarter, more inclusive urban design.
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