rendezview

rendezview logo
rendezview design iterations

Our inspiration for RendezView came from a shared frustration: trying to meet up with friends is way harder than it should be. Whether it’s the endless “Where are you?” texts, last-minute venue changes, or someone showing up 30 minutes late, coordinating meetups is a universal headache. We wanted to create a solution that removes that friction and brings people together faster.

RendezView is a real-time navigation and meetup coordination app designed to solve exactly that. Users can view each other’s live locations on a shared map, receive smart suggestions for central meetup spots, and navigate toward their friends in real time. The app syncs everyone's location and ETA so groups can meet smoothly without constant back-and-forth communication. It’s all about helping people get where they need to be—together.

We built RendezView using Esri’s ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript, integrating Esri's geolocation and routing services. We used React and Node.js for our web app infrastructure, and Firebase for real-time data syncing and authentication. We also designed the interface in Figma to ensure a clean, intuitive user experience, and developed our branding and design using Adobe Illustrator. The basemap was customized using ArcGIS Vector Tile Style Editor, to ensure a clean and cohesive design of the overall app. In our live demo, we used mock GPS points to simulate movement on the map, visualizing our app in action.

Along the way, we ran into several challenges. Integrating real-time user movement into the Esri SDK required some creative workarounds. Synchronizing map states across multiple users and devices while minimizing latency was also a complex task. Making the interface simple enough for anyone to use, without sacrificing functionality, took several iterations.

Despite these challenges, we’re proud of what we accomplished in such a short time. We successfully built a functional multi-user map demo, designed a user-friendly interface, and tackled a real-world problem we all personally experience. We worked together with clear roles, open communication, and solid momentum from start to finish.

Through this process, we learned how to implement real-time features with Esri’s tools, how to structure fast-moving collaborative development, and how much of a difference intuitive UX makes for social tools like this. Most importantly, we learned how powerful a focused team can be when everyone is aligned on the mission.

Looking ahead, we’re excited about the future of RendezView. We plan to integrate venue recommendations using APIs like Yelp or Google Places, add calendar and scheduling support, implement safety features for night travel, and enable push notifications and ETA alerts. With more development, we hope to launch a beta version on college campuses like Rutgers, where coordination tools like this can make an immediate impact.