Jackie

Project overview

I entered the Call for Code 2019 competition. It is a developer challenge that seeks to inspire developers to create open-source technology solutions to mitigate the impact of natural disasters.

There were 1900 IBM developers from 33 IBM labs around the world who participated in the challenge.

Our team was chosen as a top-three finalist in the 2019 Internal challenge! 🎉🎉🎉

My role

Though Call for Code is a developer's challenge, I entered the challenge as a designer. I formed a team with four other full-stack developers. My role was to ensure that my team focused on users’ needs and prevented them from getting side tracked on building features.  

Problem

My team focused on a natural disaster that is close to home. Floods have become a common occurrence in Toronto. We all witnessed how a flood could easily turn our streets into rivers. We had all experienced commuter chaos and power outages when a flood hits. Our goal was to create a solution that will help those in need in times of flood in an urban environment.

Design process

• Facilitated a workshop with the teams to kick off the project
• Researched flood-related issues in urban areas 
• Interviewed people to understand their pain points during a flood
• Created flows for user testing 
• Supported development team through the implementation process

Solutions

Our area of focus was on mitigating the impact urban flooding can have on Torontonians. We created an app called Freyr.

Freyr can detect flood and identifies the flooded area near the users. The users can then plan their daily commute accordingly. 

Freyr's interactive map can precisely showcase where the flooded area.

The devices will be installed on street lights and under the bridges around the city.

When a flood is detected, the users will receive a push notification so they can efficiently plan their route. 

The future vision

With the infrastructure implemented, Freyr APIs will allow easy integration into transit and city parking applications to leverage flood warning data. Ensuring when the next flood hits, users will have access to a safe route home (and cars will no longer be swept away by flash floods 🚙).

Outcome

My team was invited by the Call for Code organization as one of the last three winners. We flew to New York City and took part in the live broadcast to all of IBM. Our team won the third place. After the award ceremony, we attended the invitation-only event held at the United Nation's prestigious Delegates Dining Room. It featured stories from survivors, and ingenious solutions built by developers bent on making a positive impact with code.

Developing a project that could have tangible impact and solving a real world problem was highly rewarding.  Also, with the way our team all came together to deliver gave us a strong sense of purpose. We had a blast while making a difference!