Mapsy

Accessing of CCTV camera to view road status.
Mapsy Branding

Inspiration

The inspiration behind Mapsy is as a tool that supports all types of commuters in making informed and safe decisions regarding a stress-free commute.

What it does

Mapsy makes it easier to view the current status of road conditions, especially during periods of inclement weather. By viewing real-time CCTV images at major intersections, users may determine whether or not the road conditions are safe for travel. Mapsy also has a preliminary vision API to analyze objects at an intersection for AI training on safety ratings of intersections.

How we built it

Mapsy is built with React/Typescript with Firebase Firestore and Authentication. As well as utilizing Google Cloud Vision API fed through Google Cloud Functions to utilize on a web app. We sourced our initial prototype CCTV stills from publically available information provided by the Lawrence, Kansas government.

Learning and Challenges

Learned how to utilize machine learning as well as cloud functions to help augment and enhance Mapsy. We were a team of freshman developers learning to utilize Fullstack development and wielding frameworks and APIs effectively. A huge learning experience and challenge was the realization that we'd have to cut back many of the features we had envisioned for Mapsy. And in no particular order are the challenges and learnings we had.

Scaleback on ambitiousness -- We had many features planned which we had to cut down to fit in the most important, or most accomplishable tasks instead.
Git conflicts and overlapping work done -- Even in a delicately managed repository with well-intentioned scope and assignment, it was still possible to step on each other's toes, realized the importance of alignment on code contribution, and not just agree on the completion of work.
React was an unfamiliar framework to all but one of our developers -- Was a learning experience as well as a teaching experience in the shared skills necessary to navigate the similarities and differences in the framework or language gaps.

What's next for Mapsy

Mapsy and its developers have some planned reoccurring and semi-incremental development in order to for Mapsy to see its original vision. Otherwise, Mapsy offers key-takeaway learnings to its developers, and perhaps a template of inspiration for others.