Trashcan Finder

Keep the community clean by throwing the garbage in the nearby trashcan.

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Inspiration

In India, where our hometown is, there is tremendous amount of garbage littering throughout the country that has lead to environmental degradation because there are very less trashcans around the country for a population of around 1.3 billion people. This is a major issue which we pondered upon and thought to overcome with the help of our app. Not only India, this app could be used throughout the world in different countries to resolve this environmental issue.

What it does

Our app will help to find nearby trashcan locations around the user. Not only that, on a larger scale, it can also be used by sustainability organisations and Government agencies to introduce new trashcans, wherever necessary, around a country by analysing the number of trashcans present in a particular locality.

How we built it

We built the app with the help of the Android Studio IDE. We implemented the Google maps API and the firebase API which updated the trashcan's location on the map based on real-time database informations. Programming languages like java and xml were used to implement the functions and the front-end design of the Android Studio IDE.

Challenges we ran into

We had difficulties in implementing the Google Maps API and the firebase API in our app. It was difficult to integrate both the APIs simultaneously in the same application as they had their own set of requirements. Solving the bugs and the runtime errors we came across helped us gain tremendous knowledge of these API's inside out.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are very proud to have successfully completed our project that would impact the lives of the billions of people. We were also able to successfully implement the Google's APIs although it was our first time dealing with the APIs.

What we learned

We learned how to implement Google Maps API and the firebase APIs in our app. A day ago, we had no idea what firebase was and today we have a fully functioning real-time cloud based database integrated with our Android app. We also learnt many new functions and different new tools of the Android Studio IDE.

What's next for Trashcan Finder

We feel that Trashcan Finder will bring about a huge change in the lives of the people and the Government agencies. We could develop an interface for users to send info about potential new trash can locations. Furthermore, we could also introduce street view and other functionalities of the google maps as well to improve the user experience of the people around the world. We're thinking of lifting this idea off the ground and implementing it on our campus.

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