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  Users open the LoopWalk app and tap Get Started to begin.

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  Choose to plan by destination or by time.

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  Enter a destination or set a walking duration.

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  Select a theme or enter a custom prompt to personalize the walking experience.

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  Explore movie themed routes with filming locations.

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  Explore historic buildings and landmarks along your route.

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  Choose an energy level for the walk.

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  Add food and cafe stops along the way.

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  AI generates a personalized themed route.

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  Review detailed stops and directions.

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  See total distance, time, and number of stops.

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  Follow live turn by turn navigation. End current route anytime.

LoopWalk AI

Transforming everyday walks in the Chicago Loop into story-driven cultural discovery.

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The Need

The Chicago Loop is full of history, architecture, parks, cafés, and local businesses. It’s one of the most walkable and culturally rich areas in the city.

But most people just pass through it.

Navigation apps focus on getting you somewhere as quickly as possible. They calculate the fastest route, not the most meaningful one.

Traditional routing systems optimize for:

$$ \text{Route} = \min(\text{time}, \text{distance}) $$

As a result:

• Landmarks get overlooked
  
• Small businesses get missed
  
• Tourists follow the same basic paths
  
• Even locals don’t fully experience their city
  

Walking in Chicago is treated like a task instead of an opportunity.

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Our Solution

LoopWalk AI adds a personalization layer to walking routes.

Users first choose where they want to go or how long they want to walk. Then they describe how they want the walk to feel.

For example:

• “I want a calm walk with fewer people and a café.”
• “Make it more active and go through parks.”
• “Take me through historical areas.”
• "Walk me past filming locations from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off."

Instead of just giving the fastest path, LoopWalk AI reshapes the route based on those preferences.

We enrich possible routes with cafés, parks, historical landmarks, and other cultural stops. We also consider things like how crowded a route might be and overall safety.

The result is a walk that matches both your destination and the experience you want.

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Why It Matters to Chicago

This helps:

• Tourists discover more than just the main attractions
  
• Local businesses get more visibility
  
• Residents reconnect with their neighborhoods
  

We shift walking from simple transportation to meaningful exploration.

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How We Built It

1. We generate possible walking routes using Google Maps.
2. We enrich each route with nearby cafés, parks, and historical places.
3. We use AI (LangChain and LangGraph) to understand the user’s preferences.
4. We rank the routes based on what the user cares about most.
5. We return the route that best matches their desired experience.

Instead of replacing navigation, we improve it.

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Impact

LoopWalk AI encourages people to slow down and experience the Chicago Loop more intentionally.

Instead of just moving through the city, users engage with it.

That’s the problem we saw.
That’s the solution we built.

Built With

• css
• figma
• gamma
• google-maps-direction-api
• google-places
• html
• langchain
• langgraph
• python
• typescript