Inspiration Traffic congestion, rising carbon emissions, and limited route transparency inspired us to build TrafficPulse. Most navigation apps prioritize speed alone, but we wanted to design a tool that helps users make smarter decisions by balancing efficiency, environmental impact, and safety. Our goal was to create a route planner that not only shows where to go, but also explains the impact of each route choice.
What it does TrafficPulse is a Flask-based web application that calculates and compares multiple driving routes between two locations. Using the OpenRouteService API, it provides distance, estimated travel time, alternative routes, turn-by-turn directions, and road snapping for accuracy. In addition, it calculates estimated CO2 emissions, provides an accident risk score, and compares routes based on environmental efficiency. Users can expand each route to view detailed directions and see how much more or less efficient one route is compared to another.
How we built it We built TrafficPulse using Python and Flask for the backend and HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the frontend. The OpenRouteService API powers geocoding, autocomplete, snapping coordinates to roads, and generating alternative routes. The backend processes route data, calculates emissions and risk metrics, and sends structured data to dynamic templates for display. We also implemented virtual environment management and dependency tracking for portability.
Challenges we ran into One major challenge was handling routing errors caused by non-routable coordinates. We solved this by integrating the Snap endpoint to ensure coordinates aligned with actual roads. Implementing live autocomplete without exceeding API limits also required optimization. Designing meaningful CO2 and risk comparisons across multiple routes was another technical hurdle.
Accomplishments that we're proud of We successfully built a fully functional multi-route comparison system with environmental and safety metrics. The integration of alternative routes, expandable directions, and efficiency comparisons makes the application more informative than basic navigation tools. We are especially proud of creating a clean user interface and a well-structured backend.
What we learned We learned how to integrate REST APIs, manage rate limits, handle real-world geospatial edge cases, structure Flask applications, and build interactive frontend features. We also gained experience with GitHub version control and virtual environments.
What's next for TrafficPulse Future improvements include real-time traffic integration, improved accident data modeling, public transit and cycling options, user accounts, historical route tracking, and deployment to a live cloud environment for public access.
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