sidequest

Inspiration

As someone who's cautious about exploring unfamiliar cities, I wanted to make discovering new places feel more accessible, independent, and empowering. Planning shouldn't require switching between five different apps just to figure out where to go.

What It Does

Sidequest brings everything into one place. It creates personalized walking adventures based on your interests, budget, time, and starting location, with interactive maps and customizable stops.

Current limitation: Sidequest currently supports five predefined starting locations around UVA: UVA Rotunda, O-Hill, Gooch-Dillard, Shannon Library, and Clark Library. Future versions will allow users to start from any location and explore additional cities.

How I Built It

I used React, JavaScript, and Google Gemini for personalized recommendations, Leaflet and OpenStreetMap for mapping, Valhalla for walking routes, and dnd-kit for itinerary customization.

Challenges & What I Learned

Integrating AI with real-world location data and accurate pedestrian routing was challenging. I also encountered API limits and deployment issues, which taught me about debugging, building reliable fallbacks, and designing around real user needs.

What's Next

I hope to expand Sidequest to more cities and add verified pricing, opening hours, and accessibility information.

My goal is simple: make exploring alone feel less intimidating and more exciting.

Built With

• css
• dnd-kit
• gemini-api
• google-gemini
• html
• javascript
• leaflet.js
• netlify
• node.js
• openstreetmap
• react
• react-leaflet
• valhalla
• vite