Inspiration

Living in the Pacific Northwest, we're surrounded by incredible hiking trails and outdoor destinations. Washington has so many beautiful places to explore, but one common problem with hiking in remote areas is losing cell service. Whether you're hiking through the mountains or exploring a trail deep in the forest, it can be difficult to communicate with anyone if something goes wrong. We wanted to address this problem because staying connected shouldn't require buying expensive satellite equipment or worrying about whether your phone will work. With newer phones beginning to support satellite messaging, we saw an opportunity to make this technology more accessible and useful for hikers. This inspired us to create Starward, a platform that helps people prepare for hikes, understand where satellite communication might work, and keep their loved ones informed along the way.

What it does

Starward is a hiking safety platform that helps users plan communication before heading somewhere without reliable cell service. Users start by selecting a hiking trail, date, start time, phone model, and carrier. Starward then analyzes satellite orbit data, terrain elevation, and phone compatibility to estimate where satellite messaging is most likely to work along their route. The results are displayed on an interactive, color-coded map showing areas with stronger or weaker estimated satellite connectivity. Starward also recommends check-in locations and time windows so hikers can plan where and when to contact someone. Additionally, Starward includes a wireless recommendation system that determines whether a user would benefit from an additional satellite service, such as T-Mobile's T-Satellite. Instead of encouraging unnecessary purchases, our system prioritizes the most affordable solution, even if that means recommending that the user buy nothing. Users can share their trip plan with an emergency contact through our Photon messaging integration. Hikers can then send a simple "OK" message to check in, allowing their contacts to receive updates. Starward also includes a missed-check-in alert feature to help contacts identify when someone may need assistance.

How we built it

We built Starward using Python, Flask, JavaScript, HTML, and Folium to create an interactive web application. For satellite coverage estimates, we integrated real orbital data from CelesTrak, using Skyfield and SGP4 to calculate satellite positions. We combined this with trail information from OpenStreetMap and elevation data to estimate how terrain might affect satellite visibility. We then visualized this information through an interactive map that highlights different coverage conditions along the trail. We also created a recommendation engine that evaluates users' phone models, carriers, available satellite services, and pricing to identify suitable connectivity options. For communication, we integrated Photon Spectrum through a Node.js messaging bridge connected to our Flask backend. This enables the application to send trip details and check-in notifications through a messaging service. Throughout development, we used Cursor and Claude Code to help implement features, debug issues, understand unfamiliar technologies, and integrate different components. We used these tools to accelerate development while reviewing and testing our code as a team.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was figuring out how to combine several different technologies into one project that would actually be useful. We wanted Starward to be more than just a satellite coverage map, so we spent time thinking about what hikers would realistically need before and during a trip. Another major challenge was integrating Photon with our Flask web application. Our backend and messaging service used different technologies, so we had to build a bridge between them and work through configuration, message delivery, and communication between the services. We also faced challenges with validating satellite coverage predictions. Satellite visibility depends on several factors, including orbital positions, surrounding terrain, and environmental obstructions. We had to combine multiple data sources while recognizing that our predictions could only be estimates rather than guarantees. Finally, coordinating our different components was challenging because the mapping, recommendation, frontend, and messaging systems were developed in parallel. Making everything work together required debugging, testing, and communication across the team.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

One of our biggest accomplishments was integrating Photon into our web application and getting the messaging functionality connected to our hiking safety workflow. Building a system that could connect a trip plan with text-based communication was especially exciting because it made Starward feel like more than just a website. We're also proud of combining real satellite orbital data and terrain information to build an interactive hiking map. Seeing how these different datasets could work together to provide useful information was rewarding. Another accomplishment was building a recommendation engine that doesn't automatically try to sell users something. We wanted Starward to make decisions based on what would actually benefit the hiker, including telling them when their current phone and service are already sufficient. Most importantly, we're proud that we were able to bring together multiple technical components into a working local web application during a hackathon.

What we learned

This project taught us a lot about integrating different technologies and turning an idea into a functional application within a limited amount of time. We learned how satellite orbit data can be used to estimate communication opportunities and how geographic features such as mountains and ridges can affect connectivity. We also gained experience working with external datasets, designing recommendation logic, and connecting a Python backend to a separate messaging service. Working with Cursor and Claude Code showed us how AI-assisted development can speed up implementation and debugging, but also reinforced the importance of understanding, reviewing, and testing the code ourselves. One of our biggest takeaways was that creating something useful isn't just about adding more features. It is about understanding the user's problem and designing a solution that is simple enough to use in a real situation.

What's next for Starward

In the future, we want to expand Starward beyond hiking to support other outdoor activities such as camping, backpacking, and exploring remote areas where reliable communication may be limited. We also want to expand our trail coverage beyond Washington and the Pacific Northwest so that users can plan trips across different states and eventually other countries. On the technical side, we hope to improve the accuracy of our satellite coverage estimates by incorporating more detailed terrain and vegetation data, expanding device compatibility, and refining our predictions. We also plan to improve our messaging system with automatic missed-check-in detection, more messaging channels, and more reliable trip tracking. Eventually, we would like to make trip information accessible offline so hikers can reference their plans without needing an internet connection. Our long-term goal is to make Starward a useful outdoor safety companion that helps people explore confidently while staying connected to the people who care about them.