Shipfastr

Inspiration

With the high gas prices and the form of our modern lives being so fast ,and everyone being so busy, we all want to optimize our time and work in the most efficient way. I myself try to target a couple of destinations when I go out, and optimize my route so the shortest time and the least amount of gas is consumed. According to OptimoRoute, two reasons for inefficient deliveries are manual route planning and not using modern technology. In the case of shipping companies, who are dealing with this issue on a daily basis, finding the best route for each of their vehicles and being able to monitor their vehicles on the road saves these companies time and money, not to mention getting the packages to the customers faster and operating in an eco-friendly manner.

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What it does

In order to help shipping companies to get rid of inefficient deliveries, Shipfastr leverages Google Maps SDK to generate the fastest route for multiple destinations, not only for a single vehicle but also a group of vehicles. It optimizes on-time deliveries across different vehicles by providing concise shipping options. Shipfastr also offers reports so you can quickly identify patterns in service failures based on the recorded data.

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How we built it

Shipfastr is an iOS app consisting of two main components:

A backend server in charge of optimizing the routes utilizing Google ORtools and Google Navigation
An iOS app on the client side built with Swift and SwiftUI utilizing Google Maps and Google Places ## Challenges we ran into One of the challenges that we ran into was choosing the right tools for this project and learning how they worked. We ended up using Swift because we saw this project as a good opportunity to learn this programming language and iOS development. Another challenge that we came across was to integrate Google Places SDK with SwiftUI since the Google Places documentation was mostly written in UIkit. Therefore, the challenge was to embed GooglePlaces Autocomplete View in our SwiftUI Views. ## Accomplishments that we're proud of Firstly, we are proud of being able to work as a team successfully since this is our first project together, and we hope that we can be able to start other projects in the future. Secondly, in terms of development we are extremely proud that we could carry out an iOS project because of the steep learning curve of Swift and iOS development.

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What we learned

Most importantly we learned how useful Google Maps APIs and SDKs are. And they can be used to develop solutions that automate operations in the workplace or daily activities.

What's next for Shipfastr

Next step for Shipfastr is to add more features to our mobile app to come up with a minimum viable product. Then we will reach out to shipping companies and pitch our app. We will also take into account these companies’ needs to tailor an app that satisfies our clients. And finally we need the assistance of a data scientist to help us analyze and visualize the data from the reports on the trips. Lastly, we will develop a full-fledged backend API to offer route optimization solutions to other businesses in need.