-
-
A promotional graphic for InForMeal.
The Problem at Hand
InForMeal is a webapp that aims to serve the population of Georgia Tech. By asking whether an item on the menu is in a certain dining hall to those in the location, real-time information can be gained to represent the true offerings of the dining hall.
All too often, the complaint has been heard from our peers regarding the fact that they never know what a particular dining hall is going to have. This rings especially true for those who hold dietary restrictions. Gluten-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian students, plus those with allergies or other restrictions, are often unable to properly plan their meals because they can never be sure what they’ll actually find. This is where InForMeal comes into play.
What's InForMeal?
InForMeal is a tool designed to be supported by mobile users, but accessible from anywhere. It works in two parts. Firstly, webpages that can be found via a scannable QR code are accessed by mobile users as they enter or exit a dining hall. It then asks them up to three yes or no questions on whether certain food items are available. Based on the crowd-sourced responses, the results are displayed on InForMeal’s main webpage, accessible by anyone, from any device.
How Does it Work?
Behind the scenes, it’s a bit more complicated. Georgia Tech technically holds a deal for menu management with Nutrislice. However, the contents of Nutrislice rarely match reality. Having said that, Nutrislice provides a viable starting point for InForMeal to step in by providing a list of the possible foods that Georgia Tech could offer in their dining halls. These lists are updated daily by the server’s backend, composed of numerous python scripts working in conjunction with the Django framework. Whenever a user visits a “polling site” through the QR codes, they are met with three questions selected by the backend.
Meanwhile, when a user visits the “menu site”, the program accesses all foods offered for the closest meal: breakfast for anytime before 10:00 am, lunch for any time between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm, and dinner for any time after 2:00 pm. Should any food have been marked by a significant number of users as “not in the dining halls”, a warning label is displayed next to it to emphasize the lack of availability. Users can also use a toggle along the top navigation bar to switch their dining hall.
Trials and Tribulations
In approaching such a complex project, there were certainly some challenges involved. Originally we had imagined creating a mobile app, before noting that none of us had experience doing so. When a web app was finally decided on and Django was selected, we discovered it was a new framework for all but one of us. Finally, we also struggled to come up with branding - chiefly, a name. It took nearly the full hackathon for us to move beyond our working title of “CrowdDine”.
Despite these challenges, however, our team was able to finish with a completed product, not something that every team of first-years can say themselves.
Conclusion
Overall, we’re very proud of the work we put in and the tool we were able to produce. We are confident in its ability to improve dining and support the wider Georgia Tech community.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.