Safen

Real-time emergency coordination for families and communities.

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Inspiration

Natural disasters, power outages, severe weather events, and emergencies often leave families and communities without a simple way to know who is safe and where people are located. Existing emergency apps tend to focus on government alerts or first responders, but there are few tools designed specifically for families, roommates, students, and small communities.

Safen was inspired by the simple question people ask during every emergency:

"Are you okay?"

I wanted to create a platform that helps people answer that question instantly through live location sharing, safety status updates, emergency groups, and real-time communication.

What it does

Safen is a real-time emergency coordination platform that allows users to:

  • Create a personal emergency profile.
  • Form emergency groups with family members, roommates, or friends.
  • Add members using email addresses.
  • Share live GPS locations during emergencies.
  • Update safety status as Safe, Need Help, Injured, or Missing.
  • View all members on a live emergency map.
  • Send messages within emergency groups.
  • Activate Emergency Mode for rapid status reporting.

The platform acts as a digital emergency binder that remains accessible from any device.

How I built it

I built Safen as a full-stack safety reporting web application using a React/Next.js frontend, Vercel deployment, and a cloud-backed database layer. The frontend provides a clean, responsive interface for users to submit and view safety-related reports, while backend API routes handle storing and retrieving report data from persistent storage. I structured the app so it is more than a static demo, with a real deployed frontend, backend logic, and database connection that can be expanded later with authentication, admin dashboards, alerts, analytics, and AI-assisted report triage. Overall, Safen was built to be a practical foundation for schools, workplaces, or communities that need a simple way to surface safety concerns and respond faster.

Frontend

  • Next.js 16
  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • React Leaflet
  • OpenStreetMap

Backend

  • Next.js API Routes
  • AWS DynamoDB
  • AWS SDK v3

Infrastructure

  • Vercel deployment
  • DynamoDB for persistent storage
  • Browser Geolocation API
  • Local storage session management

Safen stores users, groups, messages, locations, and emergency statuses in DynamoDB.

The application continuously refreshes location data, allowing family members and groups to see each other's status and location in near real time.

Challenges I ran into

Building Safen involved several technical challenges:

  • Learning DynamoDB data modeling.
  • Designing efficient partition keys.
  • Managing server-side and client-side rendering in Next.js.
  • Integrating Leaflet with React Server Components.
  • Handling browser geolocation permissions.
  • Designing interfaces for stressful emergency situations.
  • Building live location updates without overwhelming the backend.

One major challenge was integrating interactive maps into Next.js because Leaflet depends on browser APIs that are unavailable during server-side rendering. I solved this by dynamically importing the map components and rendering them only on the client.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  • Built a fully functional full-stack application.
  • Implemented real AWS DynamoDB persistence.
  • Created live location tracking.
  • Developed emergency group management.
  • Designed an emergency mode experience.
  • Integrated interactive mapping.
  • Built a responsive interface for desktop and mobile.
  • Created a foundation for real-world emergency communication.

Most importantly, I believe I've built a product that solves a meaningful problem and has the potential to become a production-ready safety platform.

What we learned

Through Safen I learned:

  • DynamoDB data modeling techniques.
  • Full-stack architecture using Next.js.
  • AWS SDK integration.
  • Client/server rendering patterns.
  • Browser geolocation APIs.
  • Real-time UI updates.
  • Designing software for emergency situations.

I also learned that emergency software must prioritize simplicity, reliability, and clarity above everything else.

What's next for Safen

Future plans include:

  • Secure authentication and password management.
  • Push notifications for emergency alerts.
  • SMS and email notifications.
  • Real-time messaging using WebSockets.
  • Offline emergency mode.
  • Geofencing and evacuation zones.
  • Emergency shelter information.
  • Verified emergency contacts.
  • Community-wide emergency groups.
  • Native iOS and Android applications.

My long-term vision is to make Safen a platform that helps families and communities stay connected when communication matters most.

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