K-036-Hajj Pass

Inspiration

When looking at Hajj in general, one sees that there are plenty of challenges surrounding this holy event. The obvious one being the great volume of pilgrims from all over the world in a limited area that is not allowed by the islamic teachings from being manipulated . The second being the management, control and processing of large numbers of people that speak different languages. In crucial situations, those pilgrims from all over the world find it difficult to provide necessary information regarding their different backgrounds ( financial, medical , etc ) to the intended personnel. As a result, we aimed to help make it easier to aid these people when they need it the most even if they don't speak the same language as the people around them. We saw that building such a foundation to solve this problem will open the way to solving a bunch of different issues with the same solution. This was the start of Hajj Pass, a tool that will help manage and identify as well as help all the pilgrims, regardless of their origin or financial standing.

What it does

A solution aiming to facilitate creating and accessing a database with a complete record of each Hajj’s medical, transportation, accommodation, trip and financial information. This would help identify people who are lost, unconscious or are having problems identifying themselves or properly communicating their problem by scanning each person’s QR code that connects their account. This is useful as having a database which is populated a month prior to their arrival in Makkah can provide a simple, unified solution to multiple different issues.The app provides the medical teams as well as the security members the chance to easily retrieve all the necessary information about the Hajj in need, whether he was lost, unconscious, or even unable to communicate. By scanning the pilgrim's associated QR code, the Hajj coordinators can retrieve all the necessary medical reports ( hajj group, medication ,emergency contact, surgeries , illness ) as well as any necessary information regarding their hajj trip.The idea is built around a flexible structure that can be expanded so that the pass can also facilitate payment and person verification. Ideally we will use this to speed up the process of verifying the people for security purposes, this will also provide a partial solution to cash-less transactions through the addition of a balance option on the same database. However since this project is in its early stages, it is still unable to meet high security standards, but theoretically it should be easily applicable based on existing models.

How we built it

When making our project we had the Google FireBase in mind. It provides a unique solution to having a realtime database that can be used to access and update information quickly. However to simulate a simplified version of a database, and to avoid connection issues; we created a version of the app with a local database using android studio. A great credit to this project is the simplicity that allows for a great amount of modification and improvement. However, after thorough feasibility investigations, we believe that the project is quickly applicable through similar means. Google's mobile vision api was also greatly relied upon for providing the scanning of every Hajj's associated QR, which refers back to the relevant information stored in the database.

Challenges we ran into

At first we had major plans that were well beyond our skill set, we had no idea how to tackle these issues, and such ideas would require great amounts of resources, time and effort. In order to solve this problem we had to do extensive research to solve some of the most difficult issues using the easiest methods.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are certainly proud of the fact that we have thought of a very feasible, simple and cost-effective solution to a major problem that requires a quick and thorough solution. In addition, the fact that our solution does not give chance to any security threats that can be utilised, instead it serves to maximize the safety levels within the Hajj experience.

What we learned

Building a solution to a critical problem doesn't always have to be complex, but rather by building a project that builds on logic, we can implement existing technologies to provide an innovative solution to an age old problem.

What's next for K-036-Hajj Pass

Hajj Pass should expand to its full potential of having an online realtime database that provides all crucial information relating to the pilgrims. Once the database is fully functional, the next step would be to tie it to other services such as paying for food and services or even making hotel reservations with a modern means of payment

Built With

• android-studio
• google-firebase
• google-vision-api
• java