FINDWAY

Inspiration

Over the pandemic, we noticed people started making use of public parks and gardens more as this was one of the only ways to safely be outside. We are creating an app that will enable users to identify green areas around them, when they could either get active (by taking a walk, doing some yoga, etc.) or just enjoy the nature around them while learning about the community and environment around them. From an environmentally conscious aspect, we believe FINDWAY will allow people enjoy nature more and give users more of a sense of connection with Earth; thus, inspiring more conscious decisions form users. Additionally, users will gain new knowledge every time they visit a new location. This can be used for educational purposes like field trips.

What it does

Allows users to search for parks and gardens within a 30 mile radius of the current location. Additionally, FINDWAY will provide educational data and Infographics for users to know more about their community.

How we built it

We implemented Google Maps API's to allow us find our location and request the location of nearby gardens and parks. We then used VS Code to build our app using free templates.

Challenges we ran into

Initially, we were building the mobile app using function based programming on VS Code; however, we were running into a lot of issues while trying to implement images and mapview. We decided to switch to class based programming after a few hours of debugging. There was a learning curve in using React native becuase we were not experts in this programming language.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of everything we have accomplished in the last 24 hours. We learned a lot of react native .js and implementing google maps api's as it's some of the member's first time using React.

Andy: I'm proud of learning about React and React native through creating FINDWAY. Additionally, I got to apply some of my design focused skills into software development.

Jim: Learning API's and how to apply them on applications.

Laura: Mobile development and javascript

Brandon: Google maps api

What we learned

We learned how to get a users location using google places api's and geolocation libraries on vs code. We also learned all about React native .js as some of the members didn't know it before the hackathon.

What's next for FINDWAY

The next steps are to fine tune the UI design and add more informative data. When starting this project, our group had visitors that are new to the Philadelphia area. We wanted to offer great advice for ppeople visiting the city, and we figured we can offer that through a intutive app. Our next implementation is to offer a notification to the phone so once someone enters radius of a city or if new events are occuring, the app can notify the user.