Yak K-State

We designed a social app that allows local messaging in the form of a community feed for the city of Manhattan!

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Inspiration

The Yik-Yak app contains features that we think are fun. So, we decided to add on top of them with our own!

What It Does

Allows users in Manhattan to communicate with each other and view where most users are located via heat map. It can also display the distance between a user and the people that have sent messages in the chat.

How We Built It

  • Adobe Illustrator: to develop the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the app
  • Android Studio: the IDE we used to create this mobile app
  • Firebase: utilized to host our server and database
  • GitHub: used for collaboration and version control
  • Google Maps API: to display geographical information

Challenges We Ran Into

  • Having the map display a user's precise location
  • Heat map wouldn't compile because a variable wasn't initialized
  • Saying parenthesis instead of quotation marks for describing git commands
  • Using Android Studio on a laptop with a Mac OS

Accomplishments that We're Proud Of

We're proud of literally everything. Willie of the Day, the heat map, GUI assets, styling of the map and its boundaries, and the ability to chat.

What We Learned

How to work with the Google Maps API to track user location and also how to customize it. Learned how to use Android Studio for mobile development. Learned how to use Firebase.

What's Next for Yak K-State

  • Implement a "New" and "Trending" feed
  • Karma system
  • Make it available for Mac iOS
  • Marking bars on the map to check hours and menu specials
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