unTrashd

Inspiration

<> a tremendous amount of marine debris (640k) <> the marine life that is negatively affected <> the natural beauty of our Charleston waterscape <> our love of games, technology, data and the ability to drive real life environmental change in our community and around the world

What it does

<> makes marine debris data collection easy and fun by making it into a game for both amateur and expert users <> users receive points based on how much data they collect as they encounter marine debris <> as they earn more points, the user levels up and sees how they stack up against other "players" <> the map allows users to verify their data entry as well as access other pertinent marine data layers to enhance their data collection methods and planning <> the data that is collected is made readily available to experts such as researchers, government officials, and software developers to expand as they see fit (this would be available through a clean and easy-to use public API)

How we built it

<> the ionic/angular framework was built by Imee <> the backend and API were created by John using node.js and mongodb <> the map was developed by Emma using Esri's ArcGIS Platform technologies (including Javascript API) <> the design was envisioned and constructed by Lucius <> all pieces came together as a collaborative effort and wouldn't have been possible without the helpful advice of local experts, and enthusiasm/support of our Fishackathon staff

Challenges we ran into

<> we work in different programming languages; putting our app together was tough <> minor lack of sleep

Accomplishments that we're proud of

<> we work in different programming languages; putting our app together was tough but we were able to problem-solve and utltimately create a realistic solution for the common good of communities like ours

What we learned

<> an expanded view of marine debris issues <> the unresolved issues facing our waterways <> how to harness recent technical advancements to approach a complex problem with simplicity

What's next for unTrashd

<> getting implemented by organizations and individuals <> generating lots of marine debris data <> enabling experts to use this data to expand on our solution