Inspiration
A few weeks before Genius Olympiad, I lost my phone in Tbilisi. Fortunately, I was able to recover it using Instagram's location-sharing feature, which allowed others to see my live location. While thinking about the competition topic, I remembered that experience and realized how powerful location sharing can be in emergency situations. This inspired the idea for ResQMap. If location sharing can help someone recover a lost phone, it could also help people get rescued during natural disasters. Beyond disaster response, a system like this could assist in situations involving kidnapping, medical emergencies, or individuals who find themselves in danger and need immediate help.
What it does
ResQMap is a disaster response and emergency tracking platform designed to help first responders locate and assist people during natural disasters and other emergencies. Users can share their location, receive safety check notifications, and indicate whether they are safe or in danger. Their status is then displayed on a live map using color-coded markers, allowing emergency personnel to quickly identify individuals who may require assistance. Administrators can send global or targeted safety alerts, while police officers, firefighters, medical teams, and other first responders can filter affected areas and prioritize rescue efforts where help is needed most.
How we built it
We developed ResQMap through close collaboration and teamwork. Although we were paired together at the last minute, we quickly organized our ideas and worked tirelessly throughout the night to bring the project to life. Our original goal was to create a fully functional mobile application using Expo. However, due to unexpected technical issues with the platform, development became impossible and we were forced to restart the frontend from scratch. To stay on schedule, we pivoted and created a web-based prototype that demonstrates the application's core functionality and vision.
Challenges we ran into
The biggest challenge was the malfunction of Expo, which forced us to abandon several hours of work and rebuild the frontend from the ground up. This setback alone cost us approximately six hours of development time. We also encountered difficulties implementing the mailing system and integrating location-tracking features. Solving these issues required extensive research, testing, and assistance from AI tools to overcome technical obstacles within our limited timeframe.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Despite the challenges we faced, we are extremely proud of the web application prototype we created. We successfully transformed an ambitious idea into a working demonstration within a very limited timeframe. We believe ResQMap has significant real-world potential and could one day be used by police departments, hospitals, firefighters, emergency management organizations, and other public safety agencies to coordinate rescue efforts and improve emergency response.
What we learned
This project provided us with valuable experience in teamwork, communication, and problem-solving under pressure. Working closely with a partner taught us how to efficiently divide responsibilities, overcome unexpected setbacks, and adapt when our original plans became impossible to execute. In addition, the technical challenges we encountered helped strengthen our programming skills and gave us a deeper understanding of software development in real-world conditions.
What's next for ResQmap
Our next goal is to transform ResQMap from a prototype into a fully functional application. We plan to implement an offline AI assistant capable of guiding users through emergency situations even when internet access is unavailable. Another feature we hope to develop is a Bluetooth-based mesh communication system. This would allow nearby devices to relay messages between one another, enabling communication over long distances even when traditional internet and cellular networks are down. Although our current project is a web-based demonstration due to technical limitations, we believe ResQMap has a promising future and the potential to become a valuable tool for disaster preparedness, emergency response, and public safety.
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