Inspiration
We all want some international experience but we're on a student budget and can't afford to live in a hotel. Our journey began with the understanding that many seek global exposure without the financial means for expensive accommodations. This insight, coupled with Nielsen's design principle of "Matching between system and the real world," inspired us to create a solution that aligns with real-world needs and capabilities - leading us to the concept of UniverStay.
What it does
UniverStay is an innovative platform that caters to students and budget-conscious travelers, seeking homestay opportunities globally. Our interactive map system allows users to visually explore various cities, showcasing available hosts for exchanges. Additionally, we leverage a powerful system to match users with their ideal host families swiftly and efficiently. This system not only displays global opportunities but also enables users to narrow down choices through a sophisticated search mechanism. This drastically makes it more accessible for low-income students who are on a tight budget to do what they need. This also ties into the theme of diversity, because in an increasingly global world, we have an increasing need to understand other countries' cultures. In the end, our software fosters a more diverse student body with ready knowledge of the world.
How we built it
Our platform was crafted with the support of React, providing a dynamic and interactive interface. We used Figma for our UX design and logo creation, ensuring a visually appealing and user-friendly experience. The integration of the map API from "simplemaps.com" was a significant challenge, which we addressed by developing a custom script that seamlessly bridges the interactive map with our React environment.
Challenges we ran into
The most formidable challenge was integrating the interactive map API into our React framework. This task was particularly daunting due to the API's native JavaScript foundation and its age. However, our team's perseverance and innovative thinking led to a successful integration, enabling a seamless user experience. We overcame that by manually writing a script that bridges the two environments together so that they can work seamlessly.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're so proud of our innovative integration of the map. It allows for an interactive experience between the user and our web system. This drastically reduces the barrier for people to understand our website because, with the map API, our website is more than easy to use.
What we learned
Along the way, we have learned how to use React to create an interactive website. We also learned a lot about UX design.
What's next for UniverStay
Looking ahead, UniverStay aims to expand globally, enhancing our filtering process for even more precise searching capabilities. Currently, filtering is limited to cities and countries, but future developments will allow for more granular searches. Additionally, we plan to develop a secure and encrypted messaging channel for our users, enhancing privacy and safety in communications.
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