Seattle Foodbank Locator

Homelessness and hunger is present in the Seattle area. A simple platform has yet to be designed to improve the efficiency in locating foodbanks. Enter our selective foodbank locating platform.

Comment

Inspiration

Seattle contains many food banks each with different days, times, and eligibility requirements. We wanted to design a simple platform that compiles all this data and allows the user to easily select which food bank to attend based on their availability and eligibility.

What it does

The user is prompted with different questions, with each question narrowing down the possible food banks the person is able to attend. Based on location and time, the app will show the closest locations meeting the client's requests. Although it currently only works within the Seattle area, but we hope to acquire more data sets in the future for different locations to build a more comprehensive and wide-ranging database.

How I built it

We used html5 and javascript to build the website. Additionally, data was obtained from the Kaggle database. The link is https://www.kaggle.com/city-of-seattle/meals-programs-in-seattle. Data processing was done in excel and R. For the backend, we used Azure functions, Cosmo DB and the Bing Maps API in Visual Studios. By using Cosmo DB and Azure in combination, we aimed to create a method of data access that was accessible, easy to integrate, and reliable for possible future expansions.

Challenges I ran into

Identifying problems and obtaining data for them was the most challenging part. Additionally, even after obtaining the data, its format severely hindered its use in R so some of the data analysis had to be done by hand to save time. Finally, we had a variety of coding bugs that were difficult to fix as the night went on. We also switched through the night from React/the Google Maps API to VS/Bing Maps/Azure as we felt the possibility for expansion required by our app was better met by Azure/the Bing Maps API, causing us to restart partway through the night.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I am proud that our team was able to design a website that incorporated the food bank data from Kaggle. Every step of the process was a struggle and I am satisfied that we overcame each one.

What I learned

Finding data to analyze can sometimes be hard! To save time, it probably is best to look for data before the hackathon. We also learned the importance of properly planning out data structures, which helped us utilize the correct tools. Learning how to incorporate Azure and Cosmo DB also provided a way to understand and parse data on a much larger scale for future projects.

What's next for Seattle Foodbank Locator

We are looking to incorporate all the time slots for each food bank. Additionally, we hope to incorporate a map where it will show the user where the food bank is with respect to their location. This map currently only applies to the Seattle area, but once it works, it should be simple to parse in data sets from different areas to create a comprehensive map for Washington or the USA.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates