The Lightning SharkspresentMeet Me in the Middle
Meet Me in the Middle Demo Video
Effortlessly finds a central meeting point between two locations, suggesting convenient venues based on travel times for hassle-free meetups.
If you're familiar with the frustrating cycle of endless messages when arranging a meetup, then Meet Me in the Middle is for you. Designed to tackle the frequent issue of finding a convenient meeting place for friends, MMITM offers a straightforward, equitable solution, born from our personal challenges in locating ideal spots for gatherings.
The Team
Chris Maylor
Michael Addleton
Jenny Zhang
Aisling Kelly
Technologies
We used: Typescript React Firebase TailwindCSS Vite Google Geocoding API, Places API, Distance Matrix API
We chose a combination of familiar and new technologies for our project to strike a balance between speed of execution and exploration. TypeScript and React offered a solid foundation for building robust user interfaces with type safety and reactive components. Firebase provided a user-friendly and scalable backend to handle all the backend operations, like hosting the app, managing user logins, authentication, and storing data in Firestore. TailwindCSS, along with component library DaisyUI, helped us quickly develop an app that's easy to use and well designed. Additionally, we added Google's Geocoding, Places, and Distance Matrix APIs, giving us advanced mapping tools, accurate distance measurements, and a great way to pinpoint venues from a single platform.
Challenges Faced
During our short sprint to develop the MVP for Meet Me in the Middle, we encountered some significant challenges.
Firstly, we had to make substantial adjustments to our initial, ambitious concept to make sure it could be completed in the project's timeframe. This task demanded practical decision-making and prioritisation.
Collaborating as a new team, it was crucial for us to quickly establish effective communication and working dynamics.
Throughout the project, we were constantly learning and applying new technical skills under a tight deadline. This aspect of the project was stretching, involving hands-on application of knowledge and adapting to new concepts in a very time-constrained environment.
And then there was the challenge of incorporating the Earth's curvature into our midpoint algorithm. That took us back to our GCSE maths days!
Despite these challenges, our experience was a definitely rewarding one of teamwork, quick learning, and problem-solving that produced an app that we’d all be happy to use in our everyday lives.