IndySafe Chat

"IndySafe Chat is a full-stack AI chatbot helping 870,000+ Indianapolis residents with real-time hazard reporting, safety alerts, and emergency help — all through a simple, conversational interface."

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🚨 Inspiration

Indianapolis, home to over 870,000+ residents, faces growing challenges around real-time hazard reporting, safety alerts, and emergency assistance. Often, people don’t know where to report, what to do, or whom to call in moments of distress. From road accidents to unsafe neighborhoods, citizens often lack a unified, AI-powered platform to report, respond, or receive alerts.

This gap inspired us to create IndySafe Chat — an AI-powered public safety assistant that brings fast, reliable help to your fingertips through natural conversations.

🤖 What it does

IndySafe Chat is an AI-powered emergency chatbot that helps users:

  • Report hazards instantly via text, voice, and image upload.
  • Fill out a quick hazard report form for instant submission without chat interaction.
  • Receive real-time alerts based on live geolocation and emergency type.
  • Get AI-powered guidance from a natural language assistant using Gemini via Genkit.
  • Access emergency contacts and get custom safety response recommendations.
  • Visualize live threats with a Geoapify-powered static map.
  • Upload images with real-time location to enhance incident clarity for emergency responders.
  • Search nearby emergency services (hospitals, police, shelters) using Places API.
  • Interact through voice using the Web Speech API for hands-free use.
  • Stay informed with a real-time, scrollable feed of public reports and alerts.
  • Turn conversations into city-wide safety actions in seconds.

"Our goal?"

"To make safety reporting as easy as chatting — accessible, real-time, and civic-first."

🛠️ How We Built It

We engineered IndySafe Chat using a scalable, modern, and composable stack designed for rapid interactions, AI intelligence, and city-wide usability:

  • Frontend: Next.js (App Router) + React + TypeScript
  • Styling: Tailwind CSS + ShadCN UI for clean, responsive visuals
  • AI Orchestration: Genkit + Google Gemini models for intelligent chat flows
  • Database: Firebase Firestore to store and sync hazard and user data
  • Geolocation & Maps: Geoapify APIs (Static Maps, Geocoding, Places API)
  • Voice Input: Web Speech API for real-time voice reporting
  • Image Uploads: Handled via custom file upload logic
  • Deployment: Vercel for seamless integration of Next.js frontend and Genkit backend flows

⚔️ Challenges We Ran Into

  • Seamlessly integrating voice, text, and image inputs without latency.
  • Managing real-time Firebase logic under hackathon time pressure.
  • Making voice input robust and browser-compatible.
  • Syncing Geoapify’s APIs with hazard submissions and real-time maps.
  • Securely handling image uploads + ensuring fast sync to Firestore.
  • Designing for multimodal inputs while keeping UI clean and intuitive.
  • Continuous backend testing without breaking production Genkit flows.

✅ Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

  • Developed a fully functional, real-time safety chatbot using Genkit + Gemini.
  • Enabled voice reporting and image uploads for inclusive safety reporting.
  • Visualized hazards on live static maps with synced Geoapify APIs.
  • Designed a modular backend architecture that integrates AI, database, and mapping.
  • Deployed end-to-end on Vercel with clean routing and integrated flows.
  • Created a platform that can genuinely save lives and scale to other cities.

📚 What We Learned

  • How to balance UX and AI complexity for high-stakes use cases
  • Leveraging LLMs and Genkit flows for context-aware civic help
  • Using real-time tech like Firebase to bridge gaps in city-wide response
  • Designing for emergency use cases, not just engagement
  • Building fast under pressure while keeping things modular, testable, and human-centric

🚀 What's Next Nor IndySafe Chat

We’re just getting started. Our vision includes:

  • Multilingual support for non-English speakers across the city.
  • SMS & WhatsApp alerts via Twilio for offline and mobile-first access.
  • Admin dashboard for city authorities to monitor, verify, and respond.
  • Integration with 911 and local emergency services in partnership with the local government.
  • Scaling across other cities underserved by current safety-tech solutions.

"IndySafe Chat is more than a hackathon project."

"It’s a scalable civic-tech platform designed for real-world impact — wherever public safety matters."

Built With

  • firebase-firestore
  • gemini
  • genkit
  • geoapify-api's-static-maps-api-geocoding-api-places-api
  • next.js
  • react
  • shadcn-ui
  • tailwind-css
  • typescript
  • vercel
  • web-speech-api
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