platformagnostic-OpBlock

Inspiration

The inspiration behind this project is the fact that SafeWalk in its current state is not intuitive and streamlined enough. A google forum is not enough time to get someone a walker. We need to make these exchanges quicker between walker and "walkee". So we developed OpBlock, an alternative to the current SafeWalk system. Using our application, clients could request a volunteer in real time and get a volunteer walker in no time.

What it does

OpBlock is an all in one program that handles all users side and admin side functionality. Users are able to request a walker, choosing an pickup and drop off location as long as the destination is 20 mins walking distance from one of the SafeWalk eligible locations. The admin is able to assign a walker to a specific request in real time. The admin also has histories of all previous and pending walks.

How we built it

This project is built from base principle using the Flask framework. The front end was created using custom CSS and HTML allowing for complete control over the feel of the application. An SQLite3 database is used to store and retrieve the data and the google API toolkit is used to create and display the mapping services. All logic is run through python creating a cohesive product that can be extended and maintained easily.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge we faced was the time constraint due to all the work that needs to be done. The work isn't "hard" but instead is very tedious costing a lot of precious time. If we had more time we could have made all the html and CSS more consistent throughout the web application. Another challenge we came across is the geofencing of each of the locations as we knew how to do it but we didn't have time to implement an area around the stations to be dropped off.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are really proud with how much functionality we added into our program with the time constraints we were given. We implemented an emailing system so that walkers can accept an invitation to be walked. We also added a feature to view all the volunteers and assign each of them to specific assignments.

What we learned

We learned the importance of scope when working on a project with a time restraint. We were very ambitious when starting this project but we learned really quickly that we cannot add all the features we want to. So we had to prioritize what is most important to display during the presentation.