The goal of our project is to create a platform that helps people of all backgrounds and disabilities feel more included and able to access information about local businesses. This platform, which will be a secure mobile app, will allow people to share information about which businesses are able to meet their specific needs.
In addition, the platform would is beneficial to businesses. By collecting information about accessibility, businesses can learn how to better recognize and address any issues they may have. This will help them attract a stronger customer base and improve their overall accessibility for all customers. To demonstrate the potential of this idea, we have created a prototype has helped us understand the key challenges involved. This gave us the ability to address underlying issues a bit more effectively and create a platform that is truly helpful for both people with disabilities and businesses.
First, the user logs in with their credentials if they already have an account. If not, they sign up, verify their email, and log in.
After the account is set up, the user is automatically taken to the home page. Here, you can discover new places near you. You can also tap "more about us" and read our mission statement, as well as learn more about the Dylexiefont.
The user filled out their demographic information. Then, they saved their preferred traits and needs, given a wide range of criteria.
Then, the user searches for a Walmarts near them. They are given different pinpoints on the map. They choose the location with a positive score.
The user is then directed to the Walmart page and can view reviews and traits for this location. They tap "leave feedback" to create a review. The appreciated traits are auto-populated with their preferred traits, so the user can either delete traits or add any as needed, as well as a comment.
The Walmart page is automatically updated with the user's new review. For more serious issues, you can tap "report issue" and leave ADA or discrimination reports.
Our project's aim is to create accessible and inclusive interfaces. This application will provide a nuanced source of information about the accessibility of facilities and public locations. This will allow people to easily look up information about specific locations or their current location, and see whether the facilities there meet their needs.
We chose to develop our own solution rather than relying on existing alternatives because it will allow us to create interfaces and categorizations that are designed with inclusivity in mind. By providing a source of information, our solution will also solve the problem of having to consult multiple sources to find relevant information.
In our system, the user sends their reviews and queries to the mobile interface, which is divided into a client review UI and a client search UI. The authentication system sends a DB access token to the other modules, which they use to either search for businesses or submit a review. The mapping system receives the user's current location and sends a list of nearby businesses to the search UI, as seen in figure 1. The review UI gets the business's ID and category from Google Maps and uses it to submit a review to the server backend, which processes it and inserts it into the database. The search UI submits its requests to the server backend, which queries the database and passes the data back to the client, which presents the results to the user.