Hurricane Help

Natural disasters take many lives each year, So how useful it will be if alexa and aws can help them in that time.

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Elevator Pitch :

Natural disasters take many lives each year, So how useful it will be if alexa and aws can help them in that time, This alexa application can help alexa users in multiple ways like contacting authorities on their behalf with realtime location, check for realtime warnings in your area, providing ways to be safe and providing details for the nearest shelter. It will also push data to a custom map, where stranded users can be seen with their location.

Inspiration

Every year many people die in natural disasters in USA itself. Recently Florence got hit by Hurricane, and more than 25 people have been died, so why can't we save people from such disasters.

In case of disasters, all the phone lines get choked, and there is chaos everywhere, that time calling 911 does not help for most of the people, People ask for help through twitter and other internet mediums, so why can't Alexa and aws can help user in these situations.

What it does

  1. It helps alexa users in emergencies by sharing their realtime location to authorities and locating them on open source crisis response map
  2. It also provides a custom map for all stranded people over a google map with custom markers with their latitude and longitude.
  3. It provides ways to pre plan a hurricane.
  4. It checks on realtime with open source api's for warning in user area for any upcoming hurricane.
  5. It also provides information related to nearest shelter in case of emergency depending on user's location.

How I built it

It took me much of learning and spending time for integration and other stuff.

Here are few links that helped

https://developer.amazon.com/docs/custom-skills/device-address-api.html

https://developer.amazon.com/docs/ask-overviews/build-skills-with-the-alexa-skills-kit.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_mapping

https://google.org/crisismap/weather_and_events

http://google-map-react.github.io/google-map-react/map/main/

https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit/big-nerd-ranch/alexa-implementing-persistence

Challenges I ran into

  1. Testing device location feature on alexa through simulator
  2. Integrating open source crisis response project.
  3. Using custom markers on Mapview with realtime information.
  4. Converting normal address to latitude longitude for marking on map.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  1. Integration with open source crisis project, Alexa users can be reached by authorities in case of emergency with exact location
  2. Application is able to provide information related to nearest shelter in case of emergency
  3. Alexa users can also check for warning through realtime api's of natural disaster

What I learned

  1. Aws and Dynamo integration with alexa
  2. Open source Crisis Project integration with mapview
  3. Alexa advanced features like persistence, fetching Location

What's next for asdfs

  1. Drone dispatcher for survivors to deliver food
  2. Better mapview and google crisis project integration
  3. Local authority information
  4. Subscribe to warning for future warnings on email, sms

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