Quacc.us

Inspiration

It would be great if the accessibility aids that so many people utilize never broke or stopped functioning, but sadly that isn't the case. Quacc.us unfortunately can't magically fix all of these broken accessibility aids, but it can notify users ahead of time so they can plan accordingly. Life is already as busy and hectic as it is, no-one should have to worry about whether they will miss a concert or an important meeting because the accessibility options they use aren't available. We felt like if everyone could have a buddy looking out for them and their needs, it would be one less thing to worry about going about daily life.

What it does

Quacc.us is a mobile app that allows users to create a list of accessibility options that they use and see ahead of time if any issues arise with them. For example, someone who uses a wheelchair lift every day at their work might add that accessibility access point to their list so they can be in the know if it becomes out of order. Users can view and explore the different accessibility options around them by looking around the built in map. In the unfortunate chance that an accessibility option becomes out of order, anyone with Quacc.us can report that it is non-functioning, even those who don't require that specific option. Facilities managers and building administration staff are encouraged to have the Quacc.us app so that they can know quicker about where repairs or maintenance is needed.

How we built it

The frontend of Quacc.us was built using Svelte, and a Rust backend using the Rocket framework. This was our first time using Svelte and we were all very pleased with it's efficiency and ease of use. One of the highlights of our project is the map page, which we built using maplibre as a base map and deck.gl as the overlay.

Challenges we ran into

We were first challenged by the mapping api as it was brand new to us. It's always particularly difficult when there is not as much robust documentation or learning resources. Another problem that gave us trouble was getting notifications to be sent by the browser, it seemed like a straight forward task but troubleshooting network problems is a tall task.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are all very happy with the look and feel of the map. It is a great visualization tool and makes the user experience as good as possible.

What we learned

This hackathon has been nothing but a fantastic learning experience for our team, we've learned so much about svelte, rust/rocket, and mapping APIs.

What's next for Quacc.us

We'd love to get a notification feature working so that our users have even more convenience in their use of the app. We'd also love to integrate more closely with community partners or organizations so they can better map out their accessibility offerings.

Built With

• deck.gl
• maplibre
• rocket
• rust
• svelte