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ESova / esova.github.io

ESova Project - Teach kids programming
http://esova.github.io/
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TUTORIAL TO BUILD AN APP #3

Closed ninabreznik closed 9 years ago

ninabreznik commented 9 years ago

What app will learners build?

Idea: Mobile app where kids can take a photo of i.e. broken window, hole in the street, abandoned car, some other local issue and the app automatically sends email to mayor's office.

More ideas?

MatijaDjumic commented 9 years ago

It would be good to have a few options. Some more ideas:

MatijaDjumic commented 9 years ago
  1. An app that lists the info of all the busses and trains that commute within Šabac and from and to Šabac, with prices. With auto update schedules.
  2. Šabac city app - an app that lets users receive visitor event information and to search for restaurants, hotels, shopping, nightlife and parks, among other things.
  3. City news apps - an app that pulls all the current and relevant news about the region and updates the app.
ninabreznik commented 9 years ago

We will look into this. It might be too complicated to create such a sofisticated app & tutorial for complete beginners and solely online (without mentors) so have to think what is doable and will get back to you so we can see what would be the best option.

ninabreznik commented 9 years ago

@serapath I hope you can give some feedback here.

serapath commented 9 years ago
  1. is totally easy or totally impossible, depending on whether the data is available via an open API or not
  2. Here again - given the data is available, it's not too hard, but if it's not then it's very hard.
  3. same

So I don't know what information is available and how easy it is to search for what's relevant, but if it should be better than a google search it all depends on where to get nicely curated data from. Do you have any ideas?

MatijaDjumic commented 9 years ago
  1. Since the bus and train schedules are listed on official municipality websites, I'm sure we can get this info from them - since we're closely collaborating on this project.
  2. I found this website (apparently not available in English lol): http://sabacturizam.org/ - this is the official website of the Šabac tourist organization - so Im suggesting to draw all the data from here. They have all the touristic, restaurant and other recommendations. Then again, my question is - is it possible to just draw the data from this website like that? With the permission of the touristic organization ofcourse.
  3. This is the official website of the Šabac TV - http://www.tvsabac.co.rs/vest.php The news data is available and Im almost 100% sure we can get the permission to draw the data from there.

These are the sources we can draw the data from - however my noobish question is again, are these sources and the permission from the sources the only thing we need to solve the problem. :)

serapath commented 9 years ago

Regarding permissions, of course we would need those if they do not have open APIs that everyone could just use, but I took that as a given.

Otherwise, in all scenarios, 1., 2. and 3. it basically boils down to: There is a huge difference between:

If they have a nice API, it's something that kids could do, if it needs to be scraped, the solution can be brittle (unstalbe) and the process can be highly complex and takes a lot more time and often will need complex debugging and cleaning of data (validation & sanitization) to get something useful that can be process by a program (e.g. a mobile app)

Regarding the skillset, usually people decide whether they want to specialize in building:

Most places on the internet these days do not have an API at all. Companies like Twitter, Facebook or Google have it or otherwise modern organizations.

You could official muncipality websites or sabacturizam or tvsabac and ask if any of them have their data available through APIs. There are currently several competing standards around implementing APIs, but they are all good, e.g.

If they don't have an API already, the amount of work - and if kids should learn how to do it, the complexity involved in scraping - is huge and if using a data api should be part of the app, i'd recommend we try to come up with an idea that makes use of a service that has a free open API that follows existing standards.

MatijaDjumic commented 9 years ago

Alright perfect, got it. Thanks for the explanation! I will check the info regarding the APIs and get back to you.

MatijaDjumic commented 9 years ago

Ive presented the change of the end result of the app to Petar and he totally agrees - we should most definitely focus on the general knowledge and building the employability of the students.