Inspiration
The Odyssey project was born out of the desire to make it easier for people, particularly students without their own vehicles, to explore their neighborhoods using public transportation. Public transport is a much more eco-friendly mode of transport, but its potential is often limited by the lack of comprehensive travel apps that make the most of its connectivity.
As international students in San Jose, we personally experienced the need for a more objective travel exploration app, especially as we found ourselves commuting to certain stops almost every other week without realizing there were more interesting places to visit just one stop away. Even with Google Maps, we would sometimes find ourselves changing two buses to get to a destination that was actually closer than one that was recommended. Apparently, this is the case with most students that do not drive. Through Odyssey, we hope to provide a solution that not only makes it easier for people to explore their neighborhoods but also makes their travels more enjoyable by avoiding unnecessary hassles.
What it does
The Odyssey app provides a unique and comprehensive approach to exploring neighborhoods through public transport. The app has three user interfaces that allow users to explore their neighborhood in various ways. The first screen lets users search for prominent places along the route of a bus that they are interested in. The app then displays an unordered list of prominent places sorted in descending order of public interest, allowing users to get a glimpse of the kind of places in their neighborhood.
The app also provides a "reverse search" function, allowing users to give the app a bus stop of interest and see prominent places within a certain radius of that stop. Users can refine these results by setting filters such as broadening the radius, increasing the search detail, and filtering by a certain place type. This feature allows users to explore their neighborhood in greater detail and find places that may have previously gone unnoticed.
The second screen is a favorite feature of the app, allowing users to choose a bus of interest and display an ordered list of its stops. Users can then choose a stop that they're interested in and see the prominent places within a variable radius of that stop. This feature saves users the hassle of changing buses while looking for a particular outlet or location.
Finally, the app provides a map view for spatial learners, displaying the same information as screen #2 on a map that enables route planning and gives users a better idea of how far a certain place is from a bus stop of interest.
Overall, the Odyssey app provides a unique and comprehensive approach to exploring neighborhoods through public transport, making it easier and more enjoyable for users to discover the hidden gems in their community.
How we built it
Android
Challenges we ran into
Accomplishments that we're proud of
What we learned
What's next for Odyssey - Explore Neighborhoods w/ Public Transport
Activities
Android
- Change place type to checkboxes - multi-select
- Change API call structure
Misc.
- Design logo
- Make 3m demo video
- Make PPT
- Update DevPost
- Update GitHub
- Deploy on GCP