[HL-1] Ford AppLink Hackathon - Our iOS App {SeePark}
Last weekend, my friend, Guan, and I went to the Ford AppLink Hackathon. This is a valuable experience for us, although it is really exhausted to program for such a long time. We are PhD students so we spend most of Our time on reading and writing papers instead of coding. I did not have any experience about iOS app development. However, I believe that I have fast self-taught ability to master any programming stuff. I still need to thank Guan who contributed most to this app. We never had a cooperation before and we really enjoyed this experience.
We are on the FordAustralia YouTube!
This is the hackathon. It was my first time to sit on such a fantastic chair for programmer. I searched its type and brand which is the Zody chair made by Haworth. It is very expensive and I cannot afford it as a student.
Ford AppLink System.
They let us drive a Ford car to experience the fantastic features, e.g., one is the automated parking system that locates the parking space and the driver can use brake to control the progress of parking. Another impressive feature is the automated braking system. We tested it on a square and it is quite useful for a safety reason.
In my opinion, hackathon is a time just do three things: eat, code and no-sleep.
After programming for 24 hours, we are completely exhausted.
I designed the application’s icon {SeePark}.
Our {SeePark} mainly helps drivers to find their cars and also remind them of renewing the meters or ticket to avoid fines when they are concentrating on some matters.
- Finding where you park your car.
- Alarming when you should renew the ticket.
- Crowsourcing parking information with the community.
There are some difficult issues, e.g., identifying the parking place inside a building or indoor place detection.
Start to record your place and a time counter.
Stop the counter and locate where is your car.
There is a parking history to let you know where you park recently.
Set up a reminder!
Route you to the location where you parked your car.
The whole hackathon is a new and interesting experience to me. The iOS programming is fun and you can come up with some your own idea, design and implement it. You are able to present your cool idea to so many audiences. It is a wonderful chance. Your developed application is so close to people’s daily life. It would be happy to have an app that can help other people. I like creating wonderful things.