Mosaic
This past weekend I attended NSBE Hacks 2024 (opens in a new tab) at the University of Toronto. For this weekend's hackathon, my group members and I decided to at first create an app that combats the problem of "doom scrolling" due to the addictive algorithms of TikTok and Instagram Reels. While this was the initial idea, we couldn't follow through with it as it would invade the privacy of the user so alternatively, we created a social media platform that showcases the outdoor places that people in the local community have visited recently to incentivize others to also go outside.
It works by taking the user's location to find local posts, and by going outside and taking a selfie of the location the user will earn points to climb the ranks of the local leaderboard. Bonus points are given to group meetups at these locations and for setting new locations on the map.
This mobile app was created in Flutter, using Dart for the front-end, Python SQLite for the server backend, Google Maps API for maps and location, VS Code as the code editor, a bit of Kotlin, and was synced using GitHub as our version control system.
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Overall, it was a fun experience to be awake for 24 hours, camping at the food table for mealtime, and to explore downtown Toronto and the UofT campus despite being in Toronto for my entire life. I got to catch up with friends whom I haven't seen in a few months, and it made me realize just how many anti suicide tactics are deployed in Myhal and Bahen.