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Smartrides

Android app to find people to commute with

Featured image for the application

About the project

  • Creation date: 2015
  • Technologies: Android (Java) + Realm + Retrofit + Google Maps API + PHP for the REST API + PHP & AWS Lambda for the PUSH notifications

As my Honours Project in the University of the West of Scotland, I decided to create a carpooling app that would allow users to share their cars on their daily commutes. The idea was that you would introduce your route and schedule and the app would find compatible passengers or drivers.

Apart from having a robust matching algorithm, the app included PUSH notifications, local storage that would allow it to work without internet connection (for the most part), a login system connected to Google Plus, a smooth integration with Google Maps, and more. The REST API was developed using PHP and MySql, and the backend needed to handle PUSH notifications was a combination of AWS Lambdas and PHP code.

This project was chosen as the best one of the year by the university. Consequently, the university selected me as their candidate for the national Scottish contest "Young Software Engineer of the Year", where I ended up being a finalist. The app also won the award "Best Emerging Web & Mobile Project" in the event "Digital Futures".