Team NC.exepresentNC500
NC500 Demo Video
Five days of beautiful Scotish coastline
A beautiful coastline route around the north of Scotland, the NC500 is the ideal trip to see historical sites, to do an adventure or to sightsee. Our app streamlines the planning process, handling a five day trip which will plan the accommodations, the daily activities and the directions.
One of the team members is planning to do the NC500 this summer and suggested a practical app to help them plan their five day trip. The app allows a user to sign in and plan multiple trips for the NC500, as the different categories of activities means many trips cna be planned.
The user begins their experience on the home page where they will see a journey planner, itinerary and a full map. If the user is more concerned about activities, they can select the maps tab, which will show them pins of all activities on their route. In the Journey Planner tab, once they select an activity, they will find further information, including a description, a map displaying the location of the activity, details of the organiser. A user can then add the activity to their itinerary. If the user no longer wishes to attend, they can remove the activity. To see their itinerary, the user can navigate to the tab on the bottom navigation bar and see the full plan on a map with directions.
The Team
Laura Jegorovas
Rob Morton
Magdy Gaber
Tom Clark
Reda-E-Fizza Butt
Technologies
We used: Expo, Node.js, React Native, Supabase, Google Maps API, Android Studios
Our intent was to make something that can be used on the go, so React Native was a natural choice to make a mobile app. Having used React Native previously, we had a decent understanding of the foundations of React Native, which made the transition smooth. Expo was a great addition, as it gave us access to their library and made the set up very easy. For design and planning, wireframes and diagrams were made in Excalibur and planning was done in the AGILE method using Kanban boards. For fast updates and user authentication, Supabase was a top choice for backend, as its cloud platform offers a flexible, scalable PostGres database to store and sync data. Google maps was integrated using React Maps, which gave us access to a large library and quick updates.
Challenges Faced
We started off by spiking different technologies and found comprehensive documentation for google maps, supabase and React Native. Due to the short time frame for the project, it was necessary to get comfortable with new technologies quickly. Pair programming and regular testing was the best way to overcome these challenges.
Styling was a challenge as we wanted a consistent look. React Paper was very helpful here as it gave us a consistent library that was easy to use for multiple people styling different areas of the app. Furthermore, Android Studios was difficult to install and use for one user, so lots of pair programming and group problem solving was required to make Android Studios work on a less supported environment.
FAQs
If we had more time, what are our plans to develop our app?
- Allow a longer route to be planned, as it is currently capped at five days.
- Different routes to show on screen depending on modes of travel
- Interact with other users, such as adding comments, reviews and ratings to activities.
- Furthermore, the ability to add when you will be going to places and to organise to meet other app users there.
- A stretch goal is to book through the app directly, which would require contacting business directly.