Inspiration
The world is going through totally different times today, and there is a more need for people to be informed about the COVID pandemic. I made this app to help spread awareness towards the pandemic, and increasing the prevention of this devastating virus.
What it does
This app will give users all the information they need to know about the pandemic during these times, such as daily reminders to wash your hands, wearing a mask, wearing gloves, number of covid cases in their area, the risk calculator of covid based on their zip code and symptoms, and providing them with an in depth analysis of things they could improve upon in their lifestyle to help them decrease their risk of covid based on their sleep, eating, and fitness. I will use react native and expo to build this app. React Native is an open-source mobile application framework created by Facebook, Inc. It is an exciting framework that enables web developers to create robust mobile applications using their existing JavaScript knowledge. It offers faster mobile development, and more efficient code sharing across iOS, Android, and the Web, without sacrificing the end user's experience or application quality. I will also use expo for testing and development purposes. Expo is a framework and a platform for universal React applications. It is a set of tools and services built around React Native and native platforms that help you develop, build, deploy, and quickly iterate on iOS, Android, and web apps from the same JavaScript/TypeScript codebase. I will also create my own REST API and databases for this project. I will additionally use machine learning and external api calls within my app.
Why I built it
The primary reason I am choosing this project is because I have seen an app allowing users to be fully aware about the coronavirus and giving them reminders such as wearing a mask, wearing gloves, and consistently washing your hand would really be beneficial during these times. Another reason why I am choosing this is because I am very interested in learning a new technology such as app development. I chose React Native as opposed to flutter since React Native is the top choice of cross-platform app development framework preferred by 42% of developers, where Flutter is chosen by 39% developers.
How I built it
I built it by starting off with designing the database tables in MYSQL. I designed several tables to track the users logging and give an analysis based off of this. Then, I started developing the REST API since this would be the backend of my project, allowing me to call functions to view the users logs and give analysis from the database content through the REST API function calls. After this, I starting developing the react native app and called the REST API functions to be able to keep track of the user entered data and view the database content through the app. Github repository link is https://github.com/LakshyaGupta/iCovid-REST-API/ and https://github.com/LakshyaGupta/iCovid-Mobile-Application/.
Challenges I ran into
Some challenges I ran into were initially getting started with the API, building an API is very tough in the sense that many errors occur when you first run the API. Another challenge I ran into was efficiently several new languages in a short time frame and being able to effectively deploy the project in a timely manner. I believe the toughest challenges of the project were being able to finalize the program, make the website, design the database table, and running REST API. Another challenge I ran into was integrating the external Google APIs into my app.
What I learned
I learned several new languages such as React Native, JSON, Swift, and js, which I believe will be truly beneficial to me when pursuing computer science in college and later in a job. Through this hackathon, my passion for computer science has greatly increased.
What's next for iCovid
I will publish my app to the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store so people around the world can start gaining more awareness about the pandemic.
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