Shelter Seek

Inspiration

Our team was primarily inspired by people that suffered emergency situations such as wildfires, hurricanes, or general homelessness. We noticed that sometimes shelters end up receiving donations of items that they may already have excess stock in. As such, we noted that informing donors of items that shelters are in desperate need of would lead to more meaningful contributions, a positive for all parties. Our team also focused on the needs of displaced evacuees or homeless people, hence why Shelter Seek is also intended to be a resource for these vulnerable groups to have a consolidated source of information of where they can find help.

What it does

Shelter Seek's primary source of information is an interactive map where a visitor can enter a location and see all shelters in the area. Pin markers on the map contain relevant information such as address, phone numbers, and websites. Shelter organizations also have the opportunity to claim a shelter, creating an account. This allows them to create an inventory of items and rank them based on their importance (ex. Low - High). On the interactive map, regular users can then search the shelters in the area for certain items. For example, users that are interested in donating toothbrushes can search and may see red pins on the map, indicating an urgent need for the item. Conversely, people that need a toothbrush from a shelter could also see green pins, which indicate that the shelter has plenty in their inventory.

How we built it

Our Frontend and Backend was built using NextJS, with Supabase as our database. We also relied on Material UI for components and styling. The Google Maps and Places API was the primary source of information regarding locations and the interactive map.

Challenges we ran into

1. Understanding the Maps API took some time, especially when it came to dynamic behavior with user clicks or color changes. Thankfully, the API documentation is extensive, so we were able to adapt it to our needs.
2. The scope of our project was constantly evolving. With only 24 hours to create the site, some features would inevitably be added, cut, or merged. Making sure everyone was on the same page required constant effort from the entire team.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

1. Creating a functional website with such a small time limit is an incredible achievement. The team pushed themselves by using frameworks nobody had used before. This was everyone's first time using NextJS, Supabase, and the Maps API, so being able to learn these technologies was a great opportunity.
2. Promoting social good! Shelter Seek had a goal of providing useful services to vulnerable communities in our population and to the people/organizations that provide for them. We are incredibly proud to be able create and publish a project that can serve people in our community and beyond.

What we learned

As mentioned before, this was the team's first time using many of the technologies in the stack. We know that these skills will make us stronger engineers, especially as we move on into industry. Furthermore, we learned a lot about the software life cycle, albeit with a very compressed timeline. Planning is key and we value the 1-2 hours we spent discussing the project concept and architecture. Finally, we reinforced the importance of collaboration; this was a team effort and it was incredibly fun working together!

What's next for Shelter Seek

1. Mobile app: we would like to use React Native to create a app, making the service more accessible and convenient.
2. Better authentication: we would like to implement a system that can verify the identity of shelters when signing up, beyond a email/password. This would require some form of documentation from a shelter, but would allow Shelter Seek to be the authoritative source of shelter wish lists.

Built With

• google-maps
• nextjs
• react
• sql
• supabase
• typescript