Inspiration
We saw the api demonstrated on stage and were interested in the capabilities of Smartcar, particularly pertaining to safety.
What it does
It first gets a vehicle from the server, and gets the geographical coordinates in longitude and latitude. We then get our own coordinates using data from our ip address. We then apply some formulas to get the distance between them in miles. From there, we specify the amount of miles between driver and car that results in locking or unlocking the vehicle.
How we built it
We built it in node.js, utilizing express to launch our own local server as a test. Using this, we could connect to the Smartcar API and utilize its functionality.
Challenges we ran into
We found that the API was much more limited than we first thought, and that we had to scale down our ideas due to these limitations. It was also our first experience with HTTP requests, which took a lot of experimenting to understand.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We achieved a working minimum viable product that is functional and works as intended. We were also able to eventually gain a basic understanding of many previously intimidating topics.
What we learned
We learned about the authentication process that comes with many APIs and programs for the first time, as well as being exposed to HTTP requests. The Smartcar API was also brand new, and expanded our view of what was possible with vehicle based apps.
What's next for Proximity Based Auto Lock
There are still many improvements to be made, such as more precise geographical coordinates for the driver, a more robust backend, some form of appealing frontend, and much more. We can also expand the utility further after these refinements, and if the API gets expanded, we may be able to complete our original vision.
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