NativeGuard

NativeGuard Icon

Inspiration

The development of NativeGuard is a humble step towards addressing the significant yet often neglected issue of the abduction and disappearance of indigenous persons. This issue deeply affects indigenous communities across the globe, and our app aims to offer a modest contribution towards enhancing their safety and security. By aiding in the location and rescue of abducted individuals, NativeGuard seeks to raise awareness of the challenges faced by these communities and provide a supportive tool in their time of need. Our effort is a small but meaningful gesture towards supporting the broader movement for the protection of indigenous rights, using technology to assist those in distress. We see NativeGuard as a starting point for further dialogue and action, hoping to contribute, even in a minor way, to the respect and recognition of indigenous sovereignty and human rights.

What it does

NativeGuard introduces a pioneering approach to enhance the safety and security of indigenous communities through a specialized app designed with three distinct types of pages: User Pages, Watcher Pages, and Tribal Government Pages. This innovative platform empowers users to share their plans, including destination, expected arrival time, the company they'll be with, and a photo of their attire, creating a safety net before venturing out.

In moments of distress or when there's concern for a user's safety, NativeGuard's emergency mode can be activated. This critical feature initiates live location tracking and video streaming directly from the user's phone, ensuring that designated Watcher accounts have immediate access to real-time data. Watcher accounts are carefully selected by tribal governments and may include tribal law enforcement or individuals with specialized training, such as military expertise, providing a trusted network of responders in abduction scenarios.

The app also facilitates exclusive communication among Watchers through a dedicated message board and chat system, enabling them to share information about suspicious activities and coordinate effectively.

The third pillar of NativeGuard's framework is the Tribal Government Page, reserved for the tribal authorities responsible for the oversight of the app's ecosystem. This platform allows tribal governments to manage registrations, vetting both User and Watcher accounts to ensure community trust and safety. Furthermore, tribal governments can disseminate warnings and push notifications to users, maintaining a vigilant and informed community.

NativeGuard is more than an app; it's a community-driven initiative that leverages technology to protect the most vulnerable, offering peace of mind and a proactive stance against the abduction of indigenous persons. It embodies a collaborative effort to safeguard community members, supported by the vigilant oversight of tribal governments and the collective vigilance of designated Watchers.

How we built it

We built the app using Google's Flutter, Android Studio for simulating an Android Device, Github for source control, Auth0 for user authentication, and VSCode for our IDE.

Challenges we ran into

None of us had ever used Flutter, the Dart Language, or Auth0 before this project. We spent so much time getting the functionality to work, that we didn't get a lot of time to make it pretty or connect all of the database items.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were able to use the Google Maps API to create a map on the Watcher's page which does work when someone pushes the emergency button on a userpage. We managed to parse Firestore htpt get.