Zot Spot

Finding period products on campus shouldn't be a struggle or inaccessible. Zot Spot aims to increase accessibility and ease by helping you quickly locate free period products across campus.

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Zot Spot – Empowering Period Equity on Campus

Opening Statement: Why Zot Spot Matters

Imagine this: You're on campus, caught off guard without a pad or tampon. You rush from restroom to restroom, but come up empty-handed. It’s stressful. It’s disruptive. And it’s far too common.

Despite how normal periods are, we still treat them like a secret, like something to be hidden. You’ve seen it: a girl discreetly pulling a pad from her bag, tucking it away like it’s something to be ashamed of.

But periods aren’t shameful, they’re a natural, powerful part of life. If you don’t experience them yourself, someone you care about does. So why, when nearly half the world menstruates, do we make access to essential products so difficult? Why are they hidden away, locked behind fees, or simply not there at all?

It’s time to change that.

Inspiration

We were inspired by the stress and uncertainty students often face when trying to manage their periods on campus. Even though some bathrooms have products available, it is unclear which ones, whether the products are free, or if they are currently stocked.

This lack of visibility and access creates shame, discomfort, and inconvenience, especially for women and menstruating students juggling long classes, jobs, and commutes.

Zot Spot was born out of a desire to make period care on campus more accessible, visible, and reliable.

What It Does

Zot Spot is a web-based tool that helps students locate bathrooms on the UC Irvine campus that offer free period products.

Key features:

  • 🗺️ Interactive campus map using real-time markers.
  • 📍 Geolocation to find the nearest stocked bathroom.
  • ✅ View stock levels of pads and tampons.
  • 🔔 Report when products are low or unavailable.
  • 💡 Easily see whether products are free and when they were last updated.

How We Built It

  • Backend: Flask with SQLite for data storage, organizing bathrooms by building, floor, and room number.
  • Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript.
  • Mapping: Leaflet.js for the interactive map.
  • Geolocation: Uses browser location to show the nearest bathrooms.
  • Distance Calculation: Implemented using the Haversine formula.
function getDistanceFromLatLonInKm(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2) {
    var R = 6371; // Radius of the Earth in km
    var dLat = (lat2 - lat1) * Math.PI / 180;
    var dLon = (lon2 - lon1) * Math.PI / 180;
    var a =
        Math.sin(dLat / 2) * Math.sin(dLat / 2) +
        Math.cos(lat1 * Math.PI / 180) * Math.cos(lat2 * Math.PI / 180) *
        Math.sin(dLon / 2) * Math.sin(dLon / 2);
    var c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1 - a));
    var d = R * c;
    return d; // Distance in km
}
  • Reporting System: Users can submit low-stock alerts. Each report is timestamped and visible in both the map and list views.
  • Responsive Design: Built for desktop and mobile access.

Challenges We Ran Into

  • Manual data collection: We had to manually gather and format coordinates and room-level details for dozens of campus bathrooms.
  • Small screen UI: Balancing clarity and detail required multiple rounds of layout and usability testing.
  • Distance & time estimation: Accurately calculating the walk time between the user’s location and bathrooms using real-world formulas.

Accomplishments We’re Proud Of

  • Created a fully functional and visually intuitive interface.
  • Supported live reporting and real-time updates.
  • Designed with accessibility and dignity in mind.
  • Tackled an issue that’s too often dismissed or avoided, and did it with empathy and tech.

Zot Spot is more than a tech demo. It’s a tool that empowers users to meet their needs without shame, stress, or secrecy.

What We Learned

  • How to integrate a mapping tool with a backend reporting system.
  • How to handle geospatial data, user location services, and real-time updates.
  • Most importantly, how to build something that treats a sensitive topic like menstrual health with empathy, intention, and impact.

What’s Next for Zot Spot

  • Partner with UCI wellness services or janitorial teams to support real-world product restocking.
  • Expand to other campuses with a scalable backend.
  • Add gender-neutral bathroom filters and anonymous reporting.
  • Develop an analytics dashboard for refill frequency and usage insights.
  • Support more product types (e.g., liners, menstrual cups).
  • Add a Nearest Path Finder to give walking directions to restrooms.

Goal: No student should ever have to stress about finding a tampon or pad when they need one.

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