TravelSense

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  High priority legal notices

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  Basic greeting terms

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  News anomaly detection and less urgent alerts

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  Initial notification upon arrival to new country

Inspiration

Our team’s inspiration came from Anay S.’s experience as an international student. He struggled with local slang, social norms, and important policies: challenges that made him feel unprepared in navigating life. TravelSense was born to be the guide Anay wished he had: a proactive, intelligent companion that helps travelers feel confident, safe, and ready.

What it does

TravelSense helps travelers stay informed in real time. When a user enters a new country, it automatically provides essential updates on local laws and regulations. It also sends alerts for important news or changes in the country within the past few hours. Using GPS and IP tracking, our app identifies the user’s location and delivers only the most relevant information.

How we built it

TravelSense’s frontend was built using Next.js and React, with Tailwind CSS for styling. We used GPS and the ipapi API to track user locations. On the backend, we used FastAPI in Python and integrated APIs, including Google News, to fetch real-time updates on laws, policies, and news relevant to the user’s current country.

Challenges we ran into

While building TravelSense, the most prominent challenge we encountered was simultaneously implementing the frontend with the backend. Often, changes we made while building one part of the app would conflict with changes we made on other parts, which led to frequent merge conflicts. We'd also develop parts of the frontend before all features were completed, leading to us redesigning it frequently.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re most proud of two features: 1) our location tracking and 2) our NLP system that extracts country-specific laws. These were the hardest to implement, and they enable TravelSense to provide accurate, real-time news and legal updates for any location worldwide (even when location is changed via VPN).

What we learned

We learned that the simplest problems often have the biggest impact. While we brainstormed 6-7 ideas, TravelSense stood out because it solves a real, tangible challenge Anay S. experienced firsthand.

What's next for TravelSense

We plan to integrate TravelSense with Google Maps and explore partnerships with phone manufacturers like Apple or Samsung. By embedding TravelSense in widely used platforms, we can make real-time travel updates accessible to more users and turn it into a go-to tool for travelers.

Built With

• anthropic-api
• fastapi
• gps
• ipapi
• next.js
• python
• react
• tailwind