HyperTree

Inspiration

From the start, our team wanted to learn a subject that was new and innovative. When exploring the workshops offered during the event and the mentors available, it seemed that pursuing a project involving blockchain would be a neat idea. We were all intrigued by the mysterious ways of blockchain and figured we’d give it our best shot.

What it does

HyperTree is an application that promotes environmental friendless by promoting tree planting in communities. The application tracks the number of trees planted on each residence's property in a neighbourhood. In order to maintain accurate data, the tree distributor must report the number of trees a home owner/business has purchased and planted; this transaction will then be posted to the distributed ledger. Our application could possibly be used by the government to reward home owners/businesses for planting trees and contributing to the overall wellness of the environment. Government credit is already a function of our application.

How we built it

Following a series of HyperLedger Fabric blockchain tutorials, we were able to get our network up and running. The chain code (which is basically HyperLedger’s version of a smart contract) is written in Go and the querying and invoking functionalities are written in JavaScript. We structured our functions to be practical, such as querying all registered home owners to determine their tree count.

Challenges we ran into

Our team’s initial knowledge on blockchain technologies was practically none. Having no prior experience, we realized a lot of research would have to be had in order to understand how blockchain works, before we could actually try to write or understand any code. During the dev process, a lot of issues were had. Do to the limited documentation and lack of online resources (i.e. StackOverflow posts barely existing for this topic), we really relied on fabulous mentor support. Some issues include spending countless hours determining why only empty arrays of data were returned, and coming up with some kind of application that would make sense on a mutually-distrusting peer network.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

We are so proud to have gained an understanding of blockchain. It’s definitely a glorified buzz-word lately, but being able to have some kind of experience with this tech is priceless.

What we learned

There are never too many questions asked, especially when you’re starting with a blank slate. Never be afraid to ask questions. The foundations of blockchain. Duh. How to pivot when plans don’t turn out how you were anticipating.

What’s next for HyperTree

HyperTree could be adapted for use in the lumber industry to ensure adequate amounts of trees are being planted for those being logged. This would hopefully help uphold logging companies to their tree-planting quotas. We are all for environmental sustainability and a healthier Earth.