Astromap is designed to allow users to view the dates and locations of upcoming and past astronomical events. Drawing from data provided by NASA, the app can visualise the paths of solar eclipses and is aimed at almost anyone who might be interested in ensuring they don't miss these awe inspiring occasions, or who might be interested in seeing when and where these events have previously occurred. Users can share their excitement for these events by favouriting them or leaving comments for other users to view.

We used

Back End: MongoDB, Mongoose, Express, Bcrypt, Chai, Mocha, Jest & Supertest.

Front End: React Native, Expo, React Navigation, React Native Paper & Axios

We decided early on that we wanted to take this opportunity to gain experience of the MERN stack as it is so widely used in the industry. Additionally, mongoDB uses objects to store data, rather than tables, which took some of the leg work out of seeding the database when compared to other tech such as SQL. We decided to use the Expo framework in conjunction with React Native for the front end as this would help us get up and running more quickly and enable us to use Over The Air updates while developing the app. Given the limited development time for this project, alongside Expo we decided to use the React Native Paper UI library to provide us with production ready components, giving the app a more professional and cohesive style from the outset.

We initially found the documentation for MongoDB quite difficult to interpret which lead to some delays with the back end early on. However, once comfortable with the technology we found it quite easy to work with when creating and managing a variety of endpoints. We also encountered some challenges in understanding how to properly navigate between stacks using React Navigation. After consulting the documentation further we eventually understood that we could use multiple stacks within the app to handle different sections.

Overall we had a good experience working as a team to effectively manage the workload between members. We maintained effective communication throughout and as a result, we were able to achieve a lot in the short time frame.