LookOut

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Inspiration

This idea was conceived when in our very own city, we were able to see a drastic disparity between the different areas that we lived in, while some areas excelled in some parameters, they lacked in others, and vice versa. We realized that the government doesn't have access to proper data from the grassroots level, which may lead to overspending in certain sectors and certain areas, causing a disparity between the quality of services and essentials provided in two areas which are part of the same city. We decided to build an application with the purpose of helping the government identify the quality of essentials and services being received in certain areas, and redirect the assignment and allocation of their resources to lessen the disparity and this is how, LookOut was born!

What we do

LookOut crowdsources data from the users about their residential area. Users rate their area based on 4 parameters daily, to form a Lifestyle Quality Index for their respective area. This raw data is then provided to the government, to learn more about the conditions of the different areas, and to reallocate resources accordingly, improving equitable distribution of services and essentials. The data collected is regularly updated for a time period of 14 days, to ensure a more accurate representation of the current scenario and to avoid redundancy. Users can also track their progress in the progress calendar, which also reminds them of their quarantine period.

How we built it

We initially used Figma to design the user interface.Then we started working on the backend, which we implemented through Node.js, we also made a controller in PHP that communicates with the backend and handles the job of requesting data from the model and displaying it in the browser. We integrated a location API, that would detect the pin codes, and sort the data accordingly, the data is stored in Mongo DB Atlas.

Challenges

Due to us having separate preferences about the Model and Controller of the MVC architecture, one implementation challenge was to make Node+MongoDB talk to PHP. We solved the problem by making an API using Express and then making PHP send requests to that API to retrieve data. Learning to send requests from PHP turned out to not be as simple as we initially assumed.

Accomplishments

Our application won the 2nd runners up in The Global Hack(Governance Track), and was in the top 300 in Hack The Crisis India. We have made significant progress on the project within just a few days. The idea was refined and revised multiple times, the idea itself is quite unique, and we haven’t been able to find an equivalent alternative.

What's Next

We are further looking to collaborate with state governments to run a pilot program by deploying the applications in their respective cities. After the pilot program, we’d try to scale vertically by collaborating with other state governments in India. Once we attain enough sustainability and cover a significant number of states and are able to perform to the set expectations, we’d look to onboard international embassies which face a similar disconnect between the public and the government and cater to their specific geographical needs through multiple localised features.