Map the Gap

Brainstormed Idea
Brainstorming Session
Edit edit edit...
Film Demo video

Inspiration

On my university campus, I noticed a student who was using a wheelchair to enter my residence hall through an automatic door. Once I climbed up the stairs to my room, however, I realized that the elevator in the building was under maintenance. As I reflected back on what was “normal” to me, I reached an epiphany about how wheelchair users might face challenges in the little things in their daily lives. As a result, my teammates and I created a mobile app that displays universal designs in public transportation and public spaces. This way, people with physical disabilities can utilize cost-benefit analysis before planning their routes more conveniently--and make decisions within seconds!

What it does

Map the Gap displays facilities that have universal design through a live GPS, allowing people with physical ailments and people that use wheelchairs to plan ahead of time to choose their routes more easily. Universal design refers to any design that increases accessibility of use, regardless of ability, age, or any other discriminating factors. In this way, our app ensures that people with difficulties in mobility do not encounter unexpected challenges in their daily lives(unexpected construction, staircases, narrow entryways). They can search to see which places have accommodations for their needs and choose accordingly with their own freedom.

How we built it

Through a web editor Figma, my colleague and I used a prototyping tool to build the base graphics of Map the Gap. My other teammate also used Final Cut Pro to edit video footage taken in our studio.

Challenges we ran into

We were new to Figma, a web-based prototyping assistant; we faced challenges in utilizing new transitioning tools and intermittent lagging from the online platform.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite our lack of experience in Hackathons, we’re proud of learning new skills, such as prototyping, filming, video editing, and getting sleep deprivation!

What we learned

We learned a great deal about physical disabilities and the importance of universal design, which is the design of a location to make it as accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. We ruminated a lot about the lives of wheelchair users and felt obligation to support those in need.

What's next for Map the Gap

We look forward to expanding our platform to get more users and input to increase credibility and reliance on our app. We hope to garner regular users and make even a slight change in bettering the lives of wheelchair users and those with mobility impairments.