RunRouteFun

Inspiration

Hi, our team members are Bao, Kaung, Adam, and Alim. We have developed an application for both beginner and advanced runners to continue to stay motivated to run! Bao started running last month and he quickly discovered that getting myself up and out of bed is the hardest part. Also, he found that running the same routes every day can quickly get boring which can lead to demotivation. While starting can be the hardest part, you don’t have to do it alone. Our application, RunRouteFun is an awesome web-based platform that helps you find creative routes for your next run.

What it does

Route Generating While preparing for a run can be the hardest part, you don’t have to do it alone. RunRouteFun will be your best running buddy who makes sure every run is a new challenge that is both athletic and artistic. Although further development is needed to improve the route recommendation, fun is guaranteed!

[Future Development] Track & Analyze Share & Connect

How we built it

We created shapes in the form of polygons with points defined by latitude and longitude. We used Google Maps API which snaps two points to the nearest road, and we input the polygon points to create routes in the form of our shapes on the map. Since roads can be at different angles, we wanted to rotate our shapes to match them perfectly, so we used mathematical calculations to implement rotation. To make it more convenient, we made our shape routes customizable by distance, so that for example, a user can quickly find a 3-mile running route in the shape of a turtle that starts and ends at their location.

Challenges we ran into

At first, it was hard to believe that it is possible to automatically find routes of complex shape on a random map. What made it more challenging was that we could not come up with a well-working algorithm to snap two points to the nearest road. Even the Google API has problems with doing that, and we had to come up with approaches to improve it. We tried to reduce error in the Google API by processing a polygon by parts and combining the results. However, in the end, we found that processing the request all at once resulted in best-fitting shapes.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

When one of the team members suggested this idea for the project, at first we were in disbelief that it could work and considered other ideas too. We have seen people on social media share impressive routes that they drew on a map. However, we have not seen any software that could do this. We are proud that we tried, stuck with this idea, and made it work, even though it was completely new to us.

What we learned

For all team members, this is our first Hackathon, so we have learned a lot about this type of competition in general. In particular, we learned how to create a functional app from scratch in a few days and keep close communication in a team to work effectively. We gained a lot of experience from working with maps and researching the APIs related to them.

What's next for RunRouteFun

Track & Analyze Develop a mobile app to utilize touch, GPS, and tracking technology. Implement user profiles to keep track of progress, and goals. Share & Connect Share your creative routes, engage in community/running events to connect with other members, and make your miles more meaningful.

Built With

• api
• ccs
• html
• javascript
• maps
• math