RouteWatch
A civic engagement platform that enables Kingston residents to report road hazards and receive intelligent route optimization for safer travel. Submitted to QHacks 2025.
Overview
RouteWatch empowers Kingston residents to actively improve their city's road infrastructure by reporting issues like potholes, accidents, and other hazards. Built during QHacks 2025, this hackathon project was inspired by a friend's frustrating pothole experience and aims to create safer communities through real-time hazard reporting. The platform features photo uploads, location pinning, and direct communication with city officials. All reports are displayed on a live map with problem areas marked in red for public awareness. The app provides intelligent route optimization using OSRM routing algorithms, evaluating nearby hazards to suggest the safest and most efficient alternative paths for Kingston commuters.
Key Features
- Photo-based road hazard reporting with location pinning
- Real-time hazard visualization on interactive Folium maps
- OSRM-powered route optimization avoiding reported hazards
- Geopy integration for address-to-coordinate conversion
- Streamlit session state for efficient local data management
- Color-coded hazard mapping (red zones for problem areas)
- Community-driven civic engagement platform for Kingston
- Lightweight design tailored for municipal infrastructure needs