Inspiration
As members of Cupertino's community, we often find it difficult to coordinate and plan out communal activities such as athletics, academic sessions, or other productive events. To address this issue we aimed to build an application that smoothens the process of coordinating and participating in community-driven activities for both youth and adults. Through this application, we are able to bridge the gap of communication in the community and provide more opportunities to those who want them. ## What it does LocalLink provides a platform in which users can both create and participate in events that are accessible and joinable by members of this community. When a user enters the program, they are prompted to either sign in or sign up. Once a user enters their profile, they are able to browse through the upcoming events in Cupertino and choose to participate in the ones that align with their interests. Additionally, users are able to set up their own events in which they specify an event, decide on a public meeting space in our community, and set up the date and time. This user experience enables users to engage in or coordinate fun activities that help members of the community develop their hobbies while strengthening their relationship with each other. ## How we built it In order to build LocalLink we had to work together and utilize each other's strengths in order to make our project the best version of itself. We split the project into smaller pieces and assigned members from our group to tackle each of these pieces. From a technical standpoint, we used React Native for the UI and framework and used JavaScript to connect our backend firebase to store and process the user's data. Combined with efficient navigation and easy usability, LocalLink is community friendly and straightforward. ## Challenges we ran into As our ambitions were very high for this project, one main challenge was deciding the key features that we had to prioritize. These varied from UI organization, ease of use, and even components we wanted to add. A more software-related challenge was organizing our database in a way that was compatible with our front-end developments. In order to overcome these challenges we had to work together, break down the issue, and formulate a proper plan of action.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're proud of all the progress we've made -- especially with this being our first hackathon together as a group. While there were many ups-and-downs, we were able to persevere through all of them to be confident to say that we did our best. We were particularly proud of connecting our backend database to our frontend UI, creating a working authentication system and user base. That along with our effective usage made our final product worthwhile.
What we learned
We learned a lot about teamwork, and how to problem solve, and the highs and lows of development. It allowed us to use our resources, research, and communicate with others to ultimately create a presentable product that achieves what we wanted to make. Furthermore, we learned how to handle countless errors in logic, manage design flaws, and work in continuation for strenuous hours.
What's next for LocalLink
For LocalLink our next steps are wanting to improve upon minor bugs or errors that we weren’t able to get to in our initial development. These include connecting this to a wider spread of users, accurate display of location, and creating more functionality without event components.
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