Surgent

Inspiration

Our inspiration came from a recent storm that has affected our communities and has ravaged entire households, and our research into existing weather applications that inform users about the current climate. We have observed that despite their extensive reports on details such as wind speed, flood height, warning level, they can better visualize how they present such information to the users. It came to us that weather reporting can be more actionable, encouraging users to better prepare for disasters. In keeping with the hackathon's emphasis on sustainability, we have also considered UN SDGs 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities).

What it does

The main feature of the application is visualizing the recommended actions and effects based on current weather data. For instance, upon opening the application, the user should see the avatar in his setting either outside his home, or inside. The surrounding environment is meant to mimic how the mentioned weather data should look like, such as varying strengths of rain, the presence of flood, or the wind's speed swaying nearby plants. The application also gives an idea about the health risks associated with the given emergency to further discourage people from, and when needed, evacuation routes, and essential contact details. Our goal with the application is instilling urgency about one's situation by visually interpreting the information associated with the current weather.

How we built it

Our team began brainstorming initial ideas for this hackathon, and had first decided on a flood detection application because of its relevance to our communities. Afterwards, we conducted research into existing products or projects that have a similar premise, and identified that the visualization of the gathered data into something that is immediately apparent to the users is something these current solutions are lacking. This information gave us insights into features we can make for Surgent. However, given each team member's circumstances, we could only make a high-fidelity prototype of our application via Figma.

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest challenge was coordinating the whole team's packed schedule and finding common time to work on this project. One member would be overseas during the final stretch to the deadline, making collaboration even more difficult. Because of other scheduling conflicts, we can rarely work synchronously, and thus, some decisions and tasks were hastily made.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I am glad that we are able to work on a prototype that visualizes our intended functions despite our limited availabilities.

What we learned

We learned that since information is now easily accessible to most people, what should be given greater emphasis right now is presenting information in a way that is correct, succinct, and compelling. From our research, weather applications tend to have a big scope, gathering information from across the globe. While useful, especially for planning ahead, we learned that there is a niche we can fill for helping people adapt based on their current circumstances.

What's next for Surgent

For now, our focus is limited to thunderstorms and severe heat, and the recommended actions in response to current conditions based on climate data. We can expand, firstly to different kinds of disasters faced in various parts of the world, such as snow storms, hail storms, and tornados. Additionally, we can improve the disaster recommendation graphic based on an individual's physical environment, such as on a mountain side, where continuous rain increases the risk of a landslide.

Built With

• figma