PawPal | Devpost

Inspiration

We were inspired by Amber Alerts and wanted to implement and improve the lost pet finding process while encouraging community interactions. Currently, ‘The Life of Kai’ relies on a manually made map that the organization creates when a pet is lost. New sightings of the lost pet are manually added to the map while community members are encouraged to utilize other applications to help locate their lost pets. For HackDavis, we wanted to combine all of these steps and processes into one convenient application, PawPal.

What it does

PawPal is a mobile application that utilizes community efforts to help locate lost pets. The user is able to create profiles of their pets and is able to interact with other app users through discussion posts and community forums. When a lost pet is reported, other users are alerted nearby are alerted and encouraged to report any sightings.

How we built it

We build our project using Figma for the mobile interface. We incorporated ‘The Life of Kai’s’ existing color scheme of yellow and teal from their website to uphold the organization’s brand. HTML was used to code the backend with the geo-locater and time stamp marker. A Google Maps API was used along with multiple API libraries, like Directions API and Geocoding API, to create routes and implement map functions.

Challenges we ran into

Implementing the Google Cloud API was very confusing for me since the time marker function and geocode function required additional libraries that I was not aware of. I also had to worry about key restrictions while still allowing the API to work. Originally, I wanted to use Python to simulate the process of creating a user profile. However over time, I realized that I did not know how to combine Python and Figma into one cohesive application. We ultimately compromised by creating a Figma representation of a user profile. When designing the Figma interface, we wanted to include several features that we did not explicitly know how to implement, like the alerts function and prototype. The design mentors were very helpful in guiding and providing feedback on our interface.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of our hard work and determination to create a user friendly and accessible application that interweaves community engagement and interactions. The map and community forum features are our personal favorites especially since we feel like it closely aligns with the brands' problem statement. We are very proud of our team and our product.

What we learned

We were able to improve upon our coding knowledge, especially in HTML. As Python coders, front end HTML was a completely different side of coding, but we were able utilize mentors and online resources to successfully implement the HTML. Through implementing many features in our Figma prototype, we were able to improve as Figma designers and push our creative boundaries. We also learned more about each other and grew closer as a team and as friends :)!

What's next for Paw Pal

Implementing the rest of the frames which include chatting with other pet owners, being able to post questions, adding more information about shelters.