minga eaforschn

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Inspiration

We were inspired by the Munich services - because we have been living here in Munich since we were born, but have never heard of them. Moreover, we like doing “non-mainstream” things in the city - and we usually do not find these suggestions in an app or on an website.

We can do better!

What it does

minga eaforschn is an app that helps people get to know their city better so they feel connected to it and are more likely to stay in it. With the app, users can have activities in Munich suggested to them that are typical of Munich - and don't appear in the normal city guide, such as watching a sunset at the Hackerbrücke, flying over the Olympic Stadium on the Flying Fox, or sliding once in the MI. The app is very playful - the Münchner Kindl accompanies the user through the app. For each activity completed, the user earns points that can be used to advance to a higher level, for example, to receive discounts on admissions to museums and other venues. With our app, our users can become real Munich experts.

How we built it

We invested significant time in doing research about existing solutions & services, brainstorming new concepts and get feedback from our challenge partners from the City of Munich. After developing wireframes and getting user feedback, we started to build our MVP prototype. We mostly focused on an mobile-optimized frontend using React.js which leverages a PostgreSQL database as data store. In between of these two components, we used Hasura as GraphQL API layer.

Challenges we ran into

It was rather challenging to get to the final idea we had. Firstly, the challenge was rather open and did not set us constraints - which is nice on the one hand, but also increases the solution space significantly.

Technology also set us challenges, as some of us did not have that much experience in frontend development.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are really proud of the fact that we've come up with an innovative idea and succeeded in developing a working technical prototype. Our app prototype even covers the majority of the functionality that we have thought of.

We are especially proud of our team members that have not worked with React.js before as they had a steep learning curve during the weekend.

What we learned

The City of Munich offers more data and digital services than we originally thought.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
It was the right decision to focus on frontend & pitch - instead of sophisticated logic and tech that no one can see during the pitch.

What's next for Stadt München App

Before actually rolling out the app, the next step for the City of Munich would be to get new users and also their feedback to better adapt the app to their needs and everyday lives.

Moreover, the City of Munich could onboard more business partners that could give discounts on their offers.