WatrFall

Inspiration

It's no secret that water is one of the necessities of life and that it's important to stay hydrated. When our team began noticing more and more inefficient or simply unusable bottle-filling stations around campus, we realized that more had to be done to inform fellow students of the fountains that are in and out of service. And thus, WatrFall was born.

What it does

WatrFall is a water fountain rating platform using data crowd-sourced from fellow students to score recently used fountains on efficiency and taste. Drawing inspiration from popular services like Beli and Culpa, WatrFall pushes the final frontier of accessible campus hydration.

How we built it

WatrFall's frontend was built using Tailwind, React, and shadcn, while our backend was built using MongoDB. Additionally, we used Figma to design mockups and aid in UI development.

Challenges we ran into

As a beginner team, it was the first time many of us had even come into contact with many web development frameworks and tools. Beyond simply getting acclimated to them, we also faced difficulties setting them up on our devices due to convoluted and often-outdated documentation. After getting past that initial hurdle, we also struggled to link together our frontend and backend to run smoothly in conjunction.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're incredibly proud of learning to implement web development frameworks that were entirely new to us through perseverance and collaboration. Tailwind, for example, had been recently updated and required a different setup method as a result. Unfortunately, its website and documentation had not been updated accordingly, and we spent many hours attempting to configure it to no avail. After collaborating with a few other teams running into the same issue, we finally reached a solution and successfully implemented it. When building our backend with MongoDB, we were hit with a steep learning curve. What helped us most was DevFest's backend workshop, numerous helpful YouTube videos, the advice of experienced fellow hackers, and many many cans of Red Bull. Although we faced many challenges, overcoming them has been one of the most rewarding experiences of our first hackathon.

What we learned

We learned that programming is so much more than the sorting algorithms and data structures we learned about in class. Computer programming has numerous amazing applications, and we got the chance to apply it to create a solution for a problem we're passionate about. We also learned the importance of collaboration. Splitting up the work and helping each other--as well as other teams--made our experience so much less intimidating and much more enjoyable. Each team member could tackle a manageable piece of the project and provide or ask for help when needed.

What's next for WatrFall

We plan to expand WatrFall to create a more accessible tomorrow. We recognize that accessible design is a necessity for those with physical needs, as it enables them to more easily and comfortably navigate their environment. To address this need, we'll build off WatrFall's existing frameworks and create systems for monitoring the status of accessibility features around campus--and eventually, the world. With this, we'll be one step closer to making the world a friendlier place for all.