iSpyRev

Home Screen
Map
Upload Photo
Scrapbook
Trivia Game

Inspiration

At Texas A&M, Reveille isn't just our mascot—she's a beloved symbol of our university's rich traditions. We wanted to bring the Aggie community closer to Rev by making it easier to spot her and share the excitement across campus. iSpyRev was inspired by the idea of connecting Aggies through their shared love for Reveille, creating a fun, interactive platform that combines tradition with technology.

What it does

iSpyRev is an interactive website that allows users to track sightings of Reveille across campus and participate in various Texas A&M themed activities. Our website includes a beginning wanted poster to invite people to join the search, scrapbook that showcases Reveille’s fond memories with her fellow Aggies with an upload feature, an interactive map with pins marking where Reveille has been spotted, showing time and location details, a form that allows users to share their sightings by entering the address and coordinates of the location that updates the map, and a spin-the-wheel trivia game with questions about Reveille and Texas A&M traditions, allowing users to test their knowledge and have some fun.

How we built it

We built iSpyRev using a combination of front-end and back-end technologies:

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the front-end, providing a user-friendly interface, aesthetic U.I., and interactive features like the map, scrapbook, and trivia game.
Node.js and Express.js for the server-side logic and managing user data.
Leaflet.js for the interactive map of campus
MongoDB for the database, storing map pins, photo uploads, and trivia scores.
We utilized Google Maps API to display Reveille’s sightings on an interactive map.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges was ensuring seamless integration of multiple interactive features—such as the map, scrapbook, and trivia game—while maintaining a smooth and aesthetic user experience. Another challenge was using the back-end to handle the dynamic data for Reveille sightings and photo uploads, which required careful consideration of database structures and API calls.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of creating a platform that not only connects the Aggie community but also celebrates our love for Reveille in a fun and engaging way. Creating a website that successfully integrates the interactive map and scrapbook, along with a trivia game, into a single platform, is something we’re particularly proud of. Additionally, overcoming the technical challenges of managing and saving real-time data from user input for Reveille sightings was a significant achievement.

What we learned

Throughout the development process, we learned a lot about integrating APIs like Google Maps into a web application, handling user input data securely, and maintaining data in a dynamic environment. We also gained experience working with full stack to create an aesthetic, functional user experience.

What's next for iSpyRev

We’re excited about the future of iSpyRev! We plan to expand the platform by incorporating a timeline of the destinations Rev visited in a day, attaching images to the map that can show a picture of Rev when she was spotted there, and eventually, in the future, we hope to transfer our website to an iOS app where users can take pictures of Rev on the app and update the map and scrapbook, so that the features of iSpyRev are easily accessible. To make it more engaging with our audience and build an iSpy community, we plan to hold competitions and use the creativity of the community flow to update the icon of Rev on the map, so it creates a timeline of old and new.