Inspiration
Our inspiration for this project quite literally came to us on our way to the hackathon. All of us were struggling to find the actual venue of the event. We got a spark of inspiration and figured that it would be helpful if participants had an easier way of knowing how they can get to any events.
Photo proof:
What it does
ZotEvents is a web-based platform crafted to streamline the discovery of upcoming events at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Combining a Python backend with a JavaScript frontend built on React, ZotEvents delivers a dynamic and user-friendly experience.
How we built it
Using Selenium's web scraping capabilities, ZotEvents fetches real-time information from UCI's dedicated event website, ensuring that the platform stays updated with the latest events on campus. The program efficiently manages the scraped data, organizing it in a user-friendly format that includes event names, dates, and locations. Using Google Geocoding Api, we are also able to convert addresses into usable coordinates that is then converted into convinent json files in the backend. One of ZotEvents' central components is its integration with the Google Maps API. For events with location information, users can seamlessly navigate to the venue using the platform's integrated map functionality.
Challenges we ran into
One of the biggest challenges we ran into was the integration of our Maps API with the front end. Since we were all working on seperate parts, when it came time to combine our files we ran into a lot of issues. One of the biggest issue stemmed from our Maps API code being written in JavaScript, which wasn't compatible with our frontend code that was written with the React framework.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Since we are all beginners, we're proud of figuring out new libraries, APIs, and frameworks throughout the Hackathon. We definitely feel proud for being able to overcome the numerous challanges that we ran into.
What we learned
We learned a lot about the different libraries and frameworks that we utilized in our project. Beyond that, we also learned about the importance of looking for alternatives when faced with a challenge and developed strategies on overcoming difficulties.
What's next for Zot Events
We are looking forward to making Zot Events an even more well-rounded and complete project. Some functionalities that we are are planning on adding is the ability for user's to save their favorite events under an unique username. As well as the ability for them to export event dates an relevant informations to google calender.
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