-
demo
Inspiration
Have you ever missed your bus stop? Was it because you were sleeping, too busy socializing, or too focused on procrastinating? Whatever it was, we’ve all experienced that disappointment of getting off at the wrong bus stop because we were occupied with our own lives. We want to fix this problem for you through our app, TranSleep.
What it does
Welcome to TranSleep!
An app that wakes you up in your sleep that transforms your stressful TranSit experience into a relaxing TranSleep experience!
This app is programmed to wake you up on your transit journey. All you have to do let us know where you are going. The application will use your phone’s location, and when your phone is within 1km of your destination, your phone will ring and vibrate to wake you up from your nap. You can also use this app as a reminder app, even if you are not sleeping so that you can get off at your desired bus stop with our reminder.
How we built it
To build this app, we broke down our program into smaller pieces. While brainstorming the required steps between the team members, we recognized the importance of developing the program separately as front-end and back-end. This was necessary for several reasons. Due to the enormous size of the transit data, a back-end service was appropriate to address challenges in efficient data processing. That is why we built RESTful API powered by Flask, with open public transit data into database from multiple transit agencies. In the front-end, we utilized Android Studios to design and develop the app, and how the user interacts with the provided data from the back-end server.
Challenges we ran into
For the back-end, MySQL was not cooperating, and we had to switch gears to other databases. In addition, the open data from transit agencies were extremely difficult to interpret. Lastly, the remote server's performance was very limited, so we needed to experiment with different compilers and interpreters of python to make our program run faster. For the front-end, we faced technical challenges with GoogleMapsSDK. The SDK was difficult and cumbersome to work with as it provided numerous irrelevant functionalities. We also ran into graphical layout issues due to our lack of familiarity with the Android Studios environment. Additionally, the integration of back-end data required extensive logic, so our crew faced road blocks to accomplishing our app.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Nonetheless, with patience and perseverance our team refused to give up. After watching various online tutorials, and extensive research on Android Studios, we recognized the bugs in our code, and successfully figured out ways to communicate the back-end data with the front-end. In the matter of 36 hours, our team overcame all these challenges and built a working application designed to tackle everyday issues.
What we learned
Over this weekend, our team was stretched, and challenged with our knowledge of code. Most importantly, we learned to persevere even when things are not working out.
What's next for TranSleep
We plan to support more transit agencies, and continue to improve the TranSleep experience.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.