Grizzle Guide

Nearing the end of quarantine, people are looking for ways to get out of the house and be more active in their lives. This app provides a convenient resource for those seeking an outdoor experience.

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Overview

We love the great outdoors but we also like to be prepared for what’s coming our way. That's why we created an App that gives nearby hiking locations with info on the local weather such as sky condition, temperature, and humidity. You can start by entering your home address or an address near where you’d like to hike! The addresses are converted to precise latitude and longitude coordinates through google’s geocoding API. Those coordinates are sent to Google’s places API to search for popular hiking, camping, or other outdoor recreational locations. Each of these potential locations has its coordinates sent to a weather API to get the current climate conditions. The recreation sites are then arranged in order of proximity to the initial address and displayed in a list with all of its relevant data. Merging these data sources gives the user the knowledge and power to safely prepare for a trip into the great wilderness so they can live healthier, more sustainable lives.

Impact & Sustainability

With Grizzle Guide, the team hopes that users will become more excited about the possibilities of the outdoors, leading to a more active and sustainable lifestyle. Additionally, by becoming more experienced in the outdoors, users may become more aware of how the environment is being threatened today. By giving the users easily accessible parks and hiking locations, it is more likely the users will visit the location, increasing the chance for a true interest in the environment.

Challenges

This was the first time the group worked with Android Studio to create apps, or even worked on developing apps in general. The learning process for app development and Android Studio was eased due to the resources available at HackGT 8, such as the Android App Development workshop in the Emerging track. The other main issue the group faced revolved around the use of APIs to power the processes the app executed, such as GPS retrieval and finding nearby destinations. However, once this issue was resolved, it became easier to execute the operations that relied on the APIs.

What We Learned

The team learned many useful tools for developing apps in the future. As mentioned above, one of the major accomplishments involved the use of the Google APIs, which allows the team a more solid understanding of the Google Cloud Platform in order to build more complex and powerful applications. Another tool, also mentioned previously, was Android Studio, which would streamline app development in any future endeavors. Finally, the team was able to cultivate skills learned from class through this experience, and the emerging workshops added additional skills to aid future aspirations.

Future Goals

- Map interface that allows for users to visually comprehend data
- More accurate ranking system based on weather conditions in different areas
- User preferences to rank location by user interests

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