ecoGo

Raising awareness the real way

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Inspiration

Publicizing pollution facts and climate change warnings doesn't seem to convince our communities of the environmental issues we face today. Scientists use obscure measurements, journalists cite consequences that will take decades to arrive... But what if we discovered that, just by breathing in our cities, everyone ends up "smoking" the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes per month?

EcoGo connects Berkeley Earth's rule of thumb (one cigarette per day is the rough equivalent of a PM2.5 level of 22 μg/m3) to open databases of Air-Quality Stations worldwide. cigarettes-conversion

What it does

EcoGo is a mobile application that helps users make more environmentally conscious decisions in their daily lives. It features a heatmap to visualize pollution levels, an event system for organizing climate change-related activities, an eco-friendly route planner for transportation, and a leaderboard to encourage sustainable behavior. Additionally, there will be options where this isn't limited to transportation, but eco friendly restaurants and shopping locations will also be provided as well as community initiatives to inform people of current inititiatives that are taking place to combat climate change.

How we built it

We developed EcoGo during a 24-hour hackathon, focusing on sustainability. We used Google Cloud Platform services extensively, including Firebase for local authentication, Google Maps for mapping and geocoding, and Firestore for real-time data management. The front end was built with React Native, enabling a cross-platform mobile app experience.

Challenges we ran into

Some challenges included implementing real-time updates for pollution data, ensuring accurate geocoding for event locations, and integrating multiple Google services smoothly. Additionally, managing time to develop a functional MVP within the hackathon's timeframe was a challenge. Learning React-Native was a challenge of it's own due to my lack of familiarity with it, debugging took up most of our time.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of creating a fully functional MVP that leverages advanced technology for a noble cause. We implemented a heatmap, event system, and a leaderboard to engage users actively. Our use of Google's API for features like route planning and authentication showcases our app's robust functionality.

What we learned

We learned to integrate various Google services into a single application and how powerful these tools can be when used in harmony. We also gained a deeper understanding of how technology can influence and promote sustainable living.

What's next for ecoGo

We'd like to expand upon the MVP and create something that real users would actually enjoy and use. Although everyone knows about the data sets, and impacts. Having a platform that makes users intrigued and interactive for something amazing is cool. We have a bit of backend left that we need to render on the frontend, such as description of the location that is available in the Google API which we couldn't integreate due to time constraint.

Additional potential steps are bringing the App to resemble closer to Pokemon Go but instead of pokemons, we will inform user of areas that may be of high pollution risk as well as low and moderate risks.

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