MapTask: Platform for Location-Based Tasks & Objects

MapTask

Inspiration:

Our team believes that there is a lack of location-specific data and applications on most decentralized platform. Location insights and location-based objects will be a key pillar in the decentralized future, however one that is tremendously overlooked. In addition to this, there are several real-world challenges that exist both in developed and developing countries that can benefit from an open and decentralized approach to data collection. Our focus is specifically on citizen-generated data and how it can improve quality of life indicators for the average person, while also solving basic problems like broken infrastructure and scarce data. Our team has collectively lived across Pakistan, Nigeria and Canada, which gives us a unique insight into some of the problems that can be solved with the power of location-data.

What it does

MapTask is a dApp built on the Solana blockchain for powering location-based tasks and objects. There are two apps presented in this project. The first, called "MapTask Creator" allows users or organizations to create location-based tasks. They can associate attributes like name, images, descriptions, and points/bounties that will entice "responders" in the "MapTask Responder" App to complete these tasks or respond to these requests. The video demonstrates a basic instance of this platform using the example of a citizen mapping a pothole and a municipality/city responding to this request and filling the pothole. This data has been written on and read from the Solana blockchain, thus creating a platform which can be applied to various real-world and next generation use-cases. Some of these real-world use-cases include things like public sector accountability, sustainability related initiatives, social inclusion, mystery shopper insights, price insights and new data on informal merchants across developing countries. Some of the next-generation use-cases include creating virtual objects in AR/VR games, peer-to-peer logistics platforms, real-time location-based NFTs/documentation of events and brands/advertisers using SOL as a reward to entice citizens to enter a physical store or activation event.

How we built it

The project has two components - a web-based application to allow users to create tasks on-chain and a mobile application to allow others to complete these tasks.

The smart contract is written in Rust, and deployed on the Solana blockchain. The smart contract is deployed using a JavaScript client script.

The web-based application is written in AngularJS, and talks to Solana smart contract (for task creation) using APIs written using the Express project.

The mobile application is a mobile-first React app, which also talks to Solana smart contract (for task completion) using APIs.

For third-party libraries, we are using S3 to store images and Google Maps SDK to show a map of all nearby tasks.

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest challenge was learning Rust so we could program the smart contract
We also ran into challenges when storing images on-chain. The image (represented as a base64-encoded string) was too large to store on-chain

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Secured several paid contracts and launched the platform in 6 cities, with more to come
Presented at the United Nations General Assembly + World Bank
Supported by MIT’s SOLVE program as 1/32 innovations from around the world in the "Community-Driven Innovation" Category
Graduates of the University of Toronto's Creative Destruction Lab Program
Recipients of the General Motors Prize for “Community-Driven Innovation”
Both technical co-founders recognized as Top 30 Under 30 Software Developers for Canada
Official partners of Esri (world’s largest provider of mapping solutions)
Winners Urban Innovation Challenge (Utopia) and MBR Initiative for Global Prosperity

What we learned

We learnt about the Solana ecosystem and how to write smart contracts which execute a Sol-based reward system. More importantly, we learnt how to decentralize our reward system.

What's next for MapTask

With the help and support of the Solana ecosystem and the Ignition hackathon, our next step is to build out a fully functioning mobile application where location can be passively collected via GPS on a smartphone. In addition, with the right resources in place, we hope to actively explore new partners and use-cases for this platform, both with other dApps already building on the Solana blockchain, and others who are outside of the blockchain universe.