LilyPad

A roommate matching service (RMaaS): Users query our collection of personal intro videos for roommate compatibility.

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Inspiration

Our team was inspired by Youtube's API to create an interactive platform where videos, like on Youtube, would give us an added layer of authenticity and connectivity for our users. We came up with LilyPad, a roommate matching service that pairs compatible users based on unique search criteria which connects them to our library of videos uploaded to LilyPad.

The problem

Finding compatible roommates is a very important aspect to personal happiness and wellness. "Home" loses its meaning when you don't feel like you are coming home. Nothing is more stressful than getting stuck in a long term lease with someone that simply does not match with your personality and living needs. And most the time this is not your fault! Existing services for roommate matching lack a personal vibe and fail to provide a good idea of what people are actually like.

What makes us different

Our competitors offer basic forms that don't provide much insight into a person. LilyPad was created so that we could solve this problem by giving users the ability to upload an introduction video that queries based on specific search criteria. This personalized roommate matching service would also be able to prevent scamming of tenants by landlords. Competitors such as CraigsList can be dangerous and unreliable. LilyPad is a secure and safe environment for people to connect with one another online first. Additionally, for those relocating to new places, LilyPad users can add a personal touch to their roommate search, assessing roommate compatibility before getting there. Finally, people are able to get a better sense of the person they may potentially live with, instead of just reading short text and a static photo on a form.

When we created this app, we wanted to make a safe space for women and marginalized people to find housing and compatible living mates. There are certain concerns that don't show up on other roommate matching services (such as gender pronouns, queer friendly, etc.), and LilyPad would be able to provide our users with these extra (important) search features to find truly compatible roommates and their perfect pad.

Using the Youtube API

We used the Youtube Data API to let users grant our app access to their youtube account, so we can post videos on their behalf from LilyPad.

Challenges we ran into

As new-comers to the Youtube API, we did extensive research into how to incorporate this API with our app (thank you to our Spectra mentors!) and took time to understand how we can use it. We also were developing using Python and Flask -- technologies that a majority of us learned on the fly.

Accomplishments

We were very excited to work together at the Spectra hackathon, and had a great time collaborating and learning together. Some of the technologies we used were new to many of us, and getting all of our development environments to be compatible was certainly a challenge, but everyone on our team was patient, hard-working, and willing to take the time to explain to one another what we didn't know already. We each had unique skill sets, and we successfully achieved a good balance among our team members. We equally contributed to make our product, LilyPad, and walk away from this experience with new tech knowledge and new friends.

We were inspired by the countless possibilities of what we can create using the YouTube API. The idea that videos add a third dimension to simple text files or static pictures is something that we are all very excited about on the LilyPad team.

The future of LilyPad

We are proud of what we created within a few hours during the hackathon, and we look forward to the future of LilyPad! We will continue to build this product and we thank Spectra for connecting us and providing us with the platform to create this product. Here are a few features we hope to implement in the future:

  • Further utilize the Youtube API to allow live video streaming
  • Incorporate the Google Maps API for location search
  • Add a language translator
  • Private direct messaging
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