Inspiration
Access to healthcare is not equally distributed across communities, leading to delays in care and worse patient outcomes. Many patients, especially in underserved or rural areas, struggle to locate nearby hospitals, urgent care centers, or pharmacies. Even when facilities exist, individuals lack clear information about the most efficient way to reach them.
What it does
My app, Maryland Healthcare Access Map, uses geospatial data and AI-powered routing to help patients quickly find and navigate to healthcare resources.
Key features include:
Address-based search with local facility counts for 2, 5, or 10 miles.
Interactive map showing hospitals, clinics, urgent care, and pharmacies.
Routing options for Walk or Drive, using real road geometry.
Scrollable facility list filtered by radius.
Scalable design that can expand nationwide.
How I built it
Processed Maryland healthcare facility data and normalized facility types (hospital, clinic, pharmacy, urgent care).
Imported facilities into a Base44 and Leaflet map app with clustering, filtering, and search.
Integrated OpenRouteService API for real routing with walking and driving modes.
Built radius-based KPIs to show counts dynamically as the user searches.
Challenges I faced
Cleaning and standardizing facility datasets.
Getting geocoding and the search bar to handle addresses smoothly within Maryland.
Implementing real routing instead of default straight lines.
Debugging map rendering issues while balancing performance.
Accomplishments
Built a working prototype with address-based search, facility filtering, and real routing.
Created a scalable healthcare access map that can be expanded nationwide.
Learned how to integrate geospatial datasets with modern no-code and low-code platforms.
What I learned
Importance of data normalization by mapping facilities into consistent categories.
How to combine routing APIs with mapping libraries for smooth user experience.
Designing apps for scalability and community impact, not just technical functionality.
What’s next
Expand nationwide with full U.S. facility datasets.
Add transit routing and isochrone-based accessibility analysis.
Integrate with hospital systems and public health dashboards.
Built With
- and
- data
- data)
- directions)
- drive
- engine
- extraction)
- facility
- footpath
- for
- geojson
- geospatial
- interactive
- leaflet.js
- maps)
- openrouteservice
- openstreetmap
- ors)
- osm)
- osrm
- preprocessing
- python
- routing
- tsv
- walk