Inspiration
The decline of insects and the loss of biodiversity is life-threatening for all of us! All of these animals with 6 legs help us to live - they pollinate all the fruit and vegetables, they compost and clean up our biological left overs, they just enrich the world surrounding us and much more!
The good news: Everybody can support biodiversity by growing the right plants - you just have to know which ones would be best for your location!
Degree of innovation How innovative is the project? Does a comparable solution exist on the market already or is the idea brand new? _ Actually there are some planting apps around but they don't focus on biodiversity and local planting. I came up with the idea about creating this digital tool because I didn't find anywhere. _
Sustainability How sustainable is the project itself? How much does it help to raise sustainability? _ plant local won't sell any plants - it is combining existing shops and buyers. So it's not about more consumption - it's about the right one. plant local shows you where to buy the best plants around where you live - it's about buying locally ecological grown plants. _
Social benefit How big is the social benefit of the project? How big is the group of beneficiaries of the project? _ Everybody can take part. Every window bench counts! The users have the possibility to edit an profile where they can find like minded gardeners in their area, they can even start to swap plants. _
Technical implementation How is the project idea implemented? Is the idea feasible? What has been created so far? Does the code make sense? _ So far the idea is exciting as a draft with mock ups. To start coding the data base has to be set up. Machine learning ideas and AI could be included. Several data bases have to bee collected and combined in future. _
Presentation How is the project presented overall? _ Please read further down. _
What it does
The app plant local helps everybody who cares about biodiversity to plant the most useful plants on their balcony and in their garden. With the help of this digital tool everybody can support biodiversity with a few clicks.
It shows you in just a few steps a list of plants which fit perfectly to your needs and shows you where you can buy them. You can learn more about these plants if you want to and you get to know all these wonderful animals which profit from these plants on your balcony if you like.
A lot of insects are specialized on certain plants - if the plants are not there the insects won't also! So everybody can make a difference by choosing the right plants for their balcony - every flower pot counts.
Native / local plants are most useful for the insects around your location. With plant local you find out very easy which plants you should grow.
You don't have to study all these garden books anymore and search for plants which fit to your very own location! You don't have to learn all these details on when to plant and where to plant! You don't have to write lists and combine the findings of your search for insect friendly plants on your own!
How I built it
For now the idea is existing as a prototype built with mock ups. In the next steps a click dummy could be coded for further development.
The idea ist to code plant local as an open source code. It can be run wherever enough data about plants and insects is available. It's not limited to country borders - it is working with vegetation zones.
Challenges I ran into
As I started to care more about insects in my own garden I was overwhelmed by all the information I found. Nature is presenting us so much fullness and variety that is is very hard to make the right decision if your aren't an expert in this field.
Data sources about bees, butterflies, local plants and so on are wide spread and not easy to find am combine. For this idea and the app several data sets will have to be teamed in future - let's work on this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ44Sqy7vZ0&feature=emb_logo
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