ParcelPass | Devpost

Inspiration

ParcelPass aims to provide an eco-friendly solution for parcel delivery. It connects people who want to send a package with someone who is already traveling along that route. We create a platform that would reduce separate trips and additional drivers on the road, thereby lowering carbon emissions and alleviating traffic congestion. Furthermore, it saves on the sheer amount of resources used by shipping services such as FedEx and UPS.

What it does

The application provides a platform for users to create a delivery request by specifying the pick-up and drop-off locations, then proceeds to match the request with a driver who is already traveling in the same direction, and the two parties can connect and arrange the details of the delivery.

The best part about ParcelPass is that a parcel can go as far as you want as long as there is someone going that way anyway, be it within your local community or internationally.

Impact

The impact of the project is multifold.

It is an easy way to make quick cash
With more users on the application, it would be a faster way to deliver parcels
(Much) Cheaper to use than FedEx or UPS
Sustainable! Less resources in packaging. Less resources in transportation
Easily scalable for more users

Business viability

A client would pay the transporter for picking up and delivering their package for a price much lower than FedEx and UPS, much sooner deliver, and much less carbon emissions.

There are two ways to make profit out of such a project

Taking a small cut out of the payment make between the client and the transporter
Taking a one time or monthly fee for signing up on the app, since it is a super convenient way to make quick cash, and a much cheaper way to transport items.

The payment plan could be that of a freemium version that first attracts users on the application. This is important since the product falls in the chicken and egg problem -- without users already on the platform, it is hard to attract more users to join the platform.

How we built it

The frontend builds on the React infrastructure of a marketplace app template which we've leveraged to build the app. The backend utilizes Node.js and Express.js with a MongoDB database.

Challenges we ran into

There were several challenges that we faced during the development of ParcelPass:

Limiting the problem statement: There were several different features we wanted to implement, including live location support and real-time parcel notifications. However, we had to limit the problem statement to what was feasible for the duration of the hackathon.
Designing an intuitive user interface: We wanted to create a user interface that was simple and easy to use, but also provided all the necessary features. This required a lot of user testing and iteration.
Integrating multiple APIs: We spent a significant amount of time going back and forth on google developer accounts, API Keys, and API documentation for routing and distance matrix APIs.
Security and privacy concerns: As Parcelpass deals with sensitive user information, such as location and contact details, ensuring the security and privacy of this data was a major challenge. We utilized signed JWT tokens to pass information around and hashed passwords for added security, though, of course, further security concerns such as HTTPS and secure connections have to be considered.
Scalability of the platform: We ensured that the databases are highly scalable with minimal redundancy and indexing over secondary indexes for fast results. We also implement a BCNF database design with primary key-foreign key relationships to maximize query efficiency.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of several accomplishments, including:

Building a platform that has the potential to make a positive impact on the environment.
Implementing algorithms for matching drivers with nearby packages.
Developing a user-friendly interface that allows users to easily create and manage their shipments.
Testing with third-party APIs such as Google Maps and Carbon Interface to provide accurate route and carbon emissions calculations, even though we were unable to integrate the carbon emission calculations into our frontend in the duration of the hackathon.

Overall, we are proud of the hard work and dedication that went into building Parcelpass and believe that it has the potential to make a real difference in the world.