Inspiration
We realised we knew very little about the local suburbs we grew up in, the streets we walk every day. We decided to make a project combatting this issue, taking inspiration from platforms such as StoryCorps and Google Maps, bridging their core concepts to create an immersive user experience.
What it does
It provides a web app with an interactive map, on which you can browse user uploaded historical stories and media by their location and year. It also allows users to easily upload their own stories and media to be verified by admins, and added to the map.
How we built it
We used React UI paired with an SQL database, utilising Python's FastAPI as the backend, providing endpoints to the interface. We began by making a barebones backend returning hardcoded values, and a minimal site containing just a map with markers. From there, we added features one at a time, until we had finished the core functionality we wanted. Lastly, we focused on styling and additional features to improve the user experience.
Challenges we ran into
This was our first time ever using JS, React, and FastAPI, so it was a big challenge learning all the core features, and troubleshooting the confusing errors we got along the way. Another challenge was concurrent development, learning to use git with multiple simultaneous developers. Lastly, connecting the frontend to the backend was a big challenge, especially considering we only had one main developer of the backend, meaning those on the frontend had relatively little knowledge of the endpoints created.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're incredibly proud of creating a fully functional full-stack app in less than 48hrs, especially considering our relatively small team size. This was a big leap in development for all of us, and marks a significant step in our development as programmers.
What we learned
We learnt how to program in JS, React, and FastAPI, as well as how to create endpoints, how they link to the frontend, how to parse JSON correctly, and how to error handle requests. We also learn the difficulties of communicating over distance when working on the same project simultaneously, handling git conflicts and similar.
What's next for StoryAtlas
There are many planned features to add for a better user experience, such as auto-generate titles/summaries/locations, adding categories, making an interactive system for selecting a location during submission, and overall improvements to the UI, such as adding clean animations, and added decorations.
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