Inspiration
My partner and I are both third years and we still do not know how to find some classrooms without aimlessly walking around the college. Google maps is able to show the location of the college the classroom is in while the UCSC Maps shows the location, but does not show the directions to get there. This is where our app comes in to play since it shows the exact route from either being far away or you are in the right college, but you are not sure where to go.
What it does
It takes the exact location of the building the user is looking for and gives the optimal route to get there. If they are far enough, it will give the user the Google Maps directions so they can head to the right part of campus. Once the user is close, the map will change into a detailed map that will show the exact way to get to the selected building.
How we built it
This app was built on Android Studio. We used the Google Cloud Platform in order to access the Google Maps API. Once the user is in relatively close proximity from their location, the map would change to a more detailed version that shows where exactly they need to go. Our app has recorded longitudes and latitudes so it is easy to pinpoint the exact location of a building at UCSC.
Challenges we ran into
This was my partner and I's first time implementing Android Studio as well as the Google Cloud Platform so there was just time we had to allot to just learn the new engines. The built-in emulator in Android Studio does not support Google Maps. If you ran the emulator the map would just come up blank. Luckily my partner has a phone that is compatible with Android Studio so we were still able to see what our program was doing. Aside from that, another challenge is finding the optimal route when the map becomes more detailed. We have to set up the pathing ourselves since the program would assume to go straight to the location (even if it was not possible to since there would be no trail).
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Making our app run Google Maps and have it ask permission to use the user's location. This was one of our main accomplishments since we are able to use the user's location and have actual directions come up when they are trying to find a classroom.
What we learned
We learned how to use Android Studio and implement applications from the Google Play Store to use our apps. We have also learned how to implement nodes into the locations so we can see the exact location of places with the stated latitudes/longitudes.
What's next for SlugMaps
My partner and I wish to continue working on SlugMaps into a future possible program that can be implemented with the UCSC's ITS. We mainly focused on Oakes but in the future we are going to keep adding points to it so that the map encompasses the whole campus. Our goal for this app is to have this implemented into the app store so all students can use it. That way people can actually know exactly where they are going whether it is their first or fourth year.
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