The 7 Questions Traveler

Seven questions aim to raise awareness about safety while traveling.

Comment

✨ Inspiration

The inspiration for The 7 Questions Traveler stems from personal experiences of solo travel as mid-20s a woman. Adventures, like traveling to concerts in different countries, highlighted the unpredictable nature of exploring new places alone and emphasized the importance of safety planning.

Traveling to concerts by favorite artists like Coldplay, Taylor Swift, and other has led to unforgettable experiences , also some unexpectedly risky. One such instance involved booking a budget hotel in a red district area. This close call underscored the importance of making informed choices, especially as a solo female traveler.

This app was created to help young travelers avoid similar situations. It’s designed to empower them to travel safely, make informed decisions, and fully enjoy their journeys with peace of mind.

Supporting SDG 5 Gender Equity with category to :

  • Gender Equality
  • Women and Girls's Safety

I truly believe that the more prepared we are, the more we can explore the world with peace of mind, making smart choices along the way. Let’s travel safely and enjoy every moment!

✈️ What it does

The 7 Questions is a web app that asks seven questions to help you prepare for special occasions. In this series, called The 7 Question Traveler, we focus on raising awareness about safety while traveling. By integrating Gemini, the app highlights essential considerations:

  • City Information
  • Visa & Itinerary Requirement
  • Weather & Clothing
  • Souvenirs & Local Food
  • Red District Area & Safety

Currently, it supports traveling across the APAC (Asia Pacific) region, making it easier for you and enhancing safety and preparedness for each adventure.

We provide the information by having users answer our seven-page questionnaire:

  • Question 1 about the city he/she is going to.
  • Question 2 about where they are going to live.
  • Question 3 about how long he/she is going to stay.
  • Question 4 about planning to buy souvenirs and local food.
  • Question 5 about preparing clothes based on weather.
  • Question 6 about the month of departure.
  • Question 7 about preparing an itinerary.

All answers are not saved to a database, so we do not save any user data, and most features can be used without logging in. All that’s required is internet access.

From the answers, we generate input for our LLM, integrated with a server using NestJS, which processes requests in this way (check the image, but now you can access it in our deployed server ) server

🛠️ How We Built It

We built The 7 Question Traveler using a blend of Google’s AI and cloud tools, structured around a phased tech stack and timeline. Starting with prototyping in Gemini AI Studio and the Gemini 1.5 Flash model, we refined AI responses. We then used Google Colab for data cleaning, Google Maps API for visual location insights, and Firebase Analytics for tracking user engagement. Finally, we deployed the app on Google Cloud Platform's Compute Engine, using a Jakarta-based VM for smooth performance.

Below, we explain our approach in detail, organized by tech stack and development timeline :

💻 Tech Stack

tech stack

  • LLM : Gemini Flash 1.5
  • LLM Structured Output Implementation : Langchain & Zod
  • Data Cleaning : Google Colab & Python
  • Server (Backend) : TypeScript & Nest.js
  • Client Frontend : TypeScript, React.js & Next.js , Lottie, Framer Motion
  • Other API : Google Map API & Unsplash API
  • Web Analytic : Google Analytic Firebase
  • Deployment : Google Cloud Platform - Compute Engine
  • API Documentation: Swagger
  • UI UX Design: Figma
  • Video Editor: After Effect, Adobe Premiere, Envato For Licensed Music.

🗓️ Timeline

calendar

23 - 25 October: Exploring ideas of SDG 5 Gender Equality and prototyping with Gemini AI Studio.
26 - 27 October: Designing UI for The 7 Questions Traveler Website in Figma.
28 - 31 October: Completing frontend development and ensuring web responsiveness.
1 - 3 November: Backend development and preparing for deployment.
4 November: Registering on Devpost.
5 November: Engaging Google Developer Group On Campus BINUS Online members.
6 November: Finishing all development tasks.
7 November: Deployment.
8 - 9 November: Preparing and recording the video demo.
10 November : We are on break due to university exams at BINUS University Online.
11 November : Editing and submitting the video demo, and submitting the project.

⏳ Challenges We Ran Into

During the development of The 7 Question Traveler, we encountered several challenges that tested our adaptability and problem-solving skills:

  • 🌐 Obtaining Accurate Related Links: Requests to Gemini for related links to relevant content often returned broken links, so we could only rely on the first one or two links Gemini provided.
  • 🌉 Image URL Strings: Similar to the link request issue, image URLs from Gemini sometimes couldn’t be previewed, even though they worked well during prototyping in Gemini AI Studio. To solve this, we used the Unsplash API to retrieve images based on city names.
  • ☁️ Deployment Resource Constraints: Our initial deployment faced issues with full RAM and CPU usage, which led us to upgrade the virtual machine (VM) to improve performance and ensure a smoother user experience.

cloud issue

🎉 Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

Key accomplishments that highlight our dedication and expertise in this project. From fully utilizing Google’s ecosystem to working collaboratively across specialties, we’ve achieved significant milestones together :

  • Used the entire Google Environment.
  • Leveraged Google’s LLM Gemini from Gemini AI Studio via API, implemented Google Analytics with Firebase, performed data cleaning in Google Colab, integrated the Google Maps API, and deployed on GCP with Compute Engine.
  • Collaborated based on each team member’s professional strengths: Islam Yakin as a DevSecOps specialist and Rahma Azzahra, with experience in social media video production.
  • Building everything in TypeScript—a journey from a love for JavaScript to a growing expertise in TypeScript.
  • Completed a 20-day immersive end-to-end development.

📚 What We Learned

Building The 7 Questions Traveler expanded our technical skills significantly. Working with TypeScript and Swagger in Nest.js enriched the development process, making it easier to document and manage our API endpoints. We also explored structured output using Langchain.js and Zod, which improved data validation and consistency across the app. Gaining hands-on experience with Google’s AI tools, particularly the Gemini 1.5 Flash model, taught us how to refine AI-driven responses effectively.

The project also reinforced the importance of collaboration, as each team member’s expertise was crucial in tackling challenges and achieving a smooth deployment.

👩‍🔧 What's Next For The 7 Questions Traveler

We want to create a series called The 7 Questions to make it more engaging and challenge our design skills based on the theme we're working on. Since our previous projects often focus on locations, itineraries, and content creation, integrating these elements into a single app would be even more exciting for us.

Additionally, we aim to foster more collaborative projects and hackathons with friends and other developers. Our goal is to bring together diverse ideas, support one another, and encourage participants to get involved in real project development. The mindset is focused on fun and creativity, with winning being a bonus. After all, if you want to go far, bring your friends along!

🔗 Links

Built With

Share this project:

Updates