MapMyMeal

Interface of App Displaying Heatmap of Restaurants in West LA. Darker spots are cheaper places while lighter spots are more expensive.

Inspiration

Our inspiration for the project came from our experiences travelling. Often, when travelers travel to new locations, restaurants in touristy areas overcharge travelers to capitalize on the extra demand. However, travelers often do have alternatives in neighboring localities in the city, but are just unaware of it. Our app aims to be an equalizer in this regard by providing travellers with the opportunity to see what parts of the city offer the cheapest food. This will allow travellers to understand the "food geography" of the city better, and it will eventually price out the tourist trap restaurants.

What it does

The app collects data about the mean price of food in different localities in West Los Angeles and creates a heat map with the data points. The heatmap allows users to see what parts of the city offer cheap food and it provides users with a visual of this data.

How we built it

The app was built with HTML as the main programing language, and the MapBox API to create the heatmap and display the visual data.

Challenges we ran into

Some challenges we ran into included debugging code and also trying to learn the programming language itself. All team members were accustomed to back-end development, but did not have a lot of experience with front-end development. This proved to be a challenge and it imposed a learning curve on the group members. However, we were able to use google and online tutorials to push past the obstacle.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we were able to learn HTML and the MapBox API in a single sitting and use both tools to implement a cohesive app. Additionally, we feel proud that we were able to present a unique idea that will prove beneficial for travellers all around the world.

What we learned

We learned how to push past our weaknesses and use our strengths to build an app. Additionally, we learned the fundamentals of teamwork, communication, and the technical skills needed for frontend development.

What's next for MapMyMeal

We currently have the app implemented for West Los Angeles due to the limited time we had to collect data. We would like to scale the app to the whole of Los Angeles eventually, and eventually to California and the U.S. After enough data collection, the app would be scaled on a global level. Data collection would involve user feedback, similar to Yelp or Waze, and users would be rewarded with meal vouchers, funded through advertisement revenue.