neko

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  Home page with list of nekor routes

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  An example route for Paro Taktshang

Inspiration

The inspiration for Neko came about from our childhood memories of going on a Nekor(གནས་སྐོར།) or pilgrimage with our grandparents to sacred sites in the himalayan region. A highlight was always hearing the stories and historical accounts of the place from the elders and we realized that with modernization, most of these stories were going to die with them so to address cultural preservation, we wanted to create a literal story map curated by elders and historians.

What it does

Each Nekor has a chosen route to follow which tracks the users location on the route and updates a progress bar of the journey in terms of distance covered. There are also a list of checkpoints each which when clicked shows a picture of the site and its significance. The types of checkpoints are cultural landmarks, natural landmarks and recommended rest stops.

How we built it

The design and UI for the web app was first formulated in blender and we wanted to add a video game like feel to completing each nekor. The app was developed using next js framework and mainly uses react, mapbox, turfjs, and chakra ui.

Challenges we ran into

The main issues came about from trying to translate our design idea into an actual app as our team did not have much experience with web app development.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Getting able to get smooth UI transitions in rendering the 3D map for a specific trail, displaying information on each checkpoint and tracking the progress of the user!

What we learned

Learning to prioritize the main functionality and then beautifying the app later. We initially had lots of ideas of elements to add onto the map but we could not complete all these elements given the time frame and lack of expertise but we found discussing with mentors the minimum viable goals and user requirements very helpful to making neko.

What's next for neko

Tracking more information about the user such as elevation, highlighting completed checkpoints, seeing gallery of pictures, and adding trails beyond Bhutan. etc. Maybe also translating the app in other languages such as Tibetan and Dzongkha.

Built With

• blender
• chakraui
• mapbox
• nextjs
• react
• turfjs