Dal Bhat

Land Runner turns your runs into a strategy game—claim territory on a live map, compete with others, and stay motivated to run daily.

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Inspiration

We noticed fitness apps struggle to keep people motivated long-term. Team Dal Bhat wanted to fix this by mixing real-world running with strategy game mechanics. Land Runner turns your daily run into a game of territory control, giving you a real reason to get outside every day.

What it does

Land Runner tracks your geographical location and allows you to claim areas on a shared map.

  • Uses GPS (expo-location) to find your current position.
  • Dynamically plots and renders your running route into a custom territory polygon.
  • Synchronizes territory data in real-time so users can see claimed lands.

How we built it

  • Frontend: React Native and Expo for a fast, cross-platform mobile experience.
  • Mapping: react-native-maps to render the user environment and territory polygons.
  • Backend & Auth: Firebase (Firestore & Authentication) to manage user accounts and store territory coordinates.
  • Styling: TailwindCSS and NativeWind for a clean user interface with Dark Mode support.

Challenges we ran into

  • Real-time Map Synchronization: Ensuring map polygons update accurately when fetching coordinates from Firebase required strict React state management and useEffect dependency tracking.
  • Cross-Platform Permissions: Handling asynchronous GPS permissions (requestForegroundPermissionsAsync) on iOS and Android to prevent crashes if the user denies access.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Integrating Firebase with React Native for seamless real-time data flow.
  • Building a smooth mapping interface using React Native Maps.
  • Establishing a scalable file-routing architecture using Expo Router.

What we learned

  • Managing asynchronous location data in React Native requires rigorous state handling.
  • Firebase is highly effective for rapidly prototyping shared-state applications like map-based games.
  • Utilizing utility-first CSS (Tailwind) in a mobile environment via NativeWind improves development speed.

What's next for Dal Bhat

  • Anti-Cheat System: Utilizing the pedometer (expo-sensors) to match step counts with GPS speed, preventing users from driving to claim land.
  • Health System: Adding a mechanic where running a route multiple times fortifies it, making it harder for others to steal.
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