Inspiration
With GenderVerse, we attempted to promote the cause of gender equity. With all the movements around inclusion, we have noticed how there is a glaring gap to facilitate in everyday aspects. Gender-neutral bathrooms are a strong symbol of diversity and everyday inclusion, but not everyone knows that they exist or where they exist. Hailing from India, we have firsthand seen how in day-to-day life there is a lack of inclusion. People fail to understand that gender is a spectrum and society still remains binary. GenderVerse is my way of helping the community in need of equal access to bathrooms. Across the globe, there are data repositories of where gender-neutral bathrooms are and we realized there is a need to channelize it in a way that it reaches people. With GenderVerse a completely free, indiscriminate, and user-friendly repository has been created that can ensure people who need this quintessential information can get it safely. While also hoping to create a data source, using this app, we also hope to spark some sort of movement that shows people in the society around me the sheer need for inclusion in everyday life.
Institutions across the world publish data about these bathrooms however there is nothing central that binds this progressive idea and the primary inspiration of GenderVerse was to be a one-stop data platform that really gets this information out there and champions the cause of empowerment, inclusion, and mainstreaming.
Note: Github wasn't letting me push due to some 100MB limits on some files. Google Drive is all we could find.
What it does
We strived to create a basic and accessible system that really propagates the ideology.
Add Bathrooms: Spread information about gender-neutral bathrooms across the world. Promote your organization by creating more data for those in need.
Save Bathrooms: If you want to store information about any bathrooms around you that might be helpful. It is just one click away. Save bathrooms can help people just store information about commonly visited places and allowing them to access options without searching the map again
View a global scale inventory: Our app is global scale so Genderverse will accompany you wherever you go. Our aim is to empower those who truly require this information. Using an open-source repo, we added 2,000+ bathrooms to the app. The map creates a global-scale data platform
The goal was to create a one-stop platform where people in need of gender-neutral bathrooms can go and get access. You can add, save, view bathrooms with a very comprehensive and easy-to-use system that champions the inclusive space movement. These were all the features we managed to add in 36 hours but the potential is truly limitless
How we built it
It was built using Swift and Firebase. With previous knowledge from online courses, we used basic swift to create the app. Firebase was the obvious choice for a database. We used Google Maps-API to facilitate easy navigation and the aspects of the map for the app. Working with the Google-Maps API was a completely new experience for me. For basic features, the project also uses many Cocoapod libraries: AlamoFire, JDProgress HUD.
Challenges we ran into
Working with Google-Maps API was an extremely new thing so figuring it out was definitely a challenge especially given the small time frames. We are also not very good UI/UX developers but we are significantly proud of the kind of layout we achieved here and the thought process that went behind it. This was definitely a hurdle for me to face. Lastly, working mainly with websites. An app was something significantly new so pulling it off in a day was a challenge, especially given that we are not experts
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We were able to create a basic yet powerful system that can empower thousands across the world. The ground impact of GenderVerse can be immense and we are happy to play a role in terms of bringing social impact. As we said, we were able to prioritize things, create schedules, sacrifice a few features as well but overall trying my hand at something new while positively influencing the society around me is what we cherish the most. Most importantly it was a huge success to get the app published on time too :).
What we learned
We learned to be efficient and how to set deadlines to get tasks done on time. It was the first time we also dipped my hand into some beta-testing which we did through a few of our friends.
What's next for GenderVerse
We would love to spread this out to different corporations. Start a social media handle and get the message out there. Many universities like VirginiaTech itself strongly support inclusion through gender-neutral bathrooms so another extremely exciting aspect would be to partner with them. Many LGBTQIA+ centers at these institutions publish their own data and we would love to explore avenues through which we expand our platform and work forward with these acclaimed colleges.
Note: The app is published under a different account since we didn't have one :)
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