Vrinda's Dashboard Project

README.md

@@ -1,72 +1,31 @@
-Dashboards are the bread and butter of spatial data displays. They are highly interactive websites, usually with real-time updates that show data in an accessible way.
+# Vrinda-Uber-Dashboard-Project
 
-**Complete by October 23**
 
+Google Maps is at the core of this project—it's the canvas for planning trips and visualizing stops.
+I've used the Google Maps API for displaying the map, calculating routes, and providing directions.
+Users can interact with the map directly, select their starting point, destinations, add stops, and calculate the complete route with an estimated fare.
 
-## Examples
 
-- School Explorer (in-class example), [examples/school-explorer-for-parents](examples/school-explorer-for-parents/site/)
-- Philly Park Lead Levels, [examples/philly-park-lead-levels](examples/philly-park-lead-levels/)
+Add Stops & Custom Itineraries:
 
+Users can customize their trips by adding stops between their start and final destinations. This is handy for adding quick coffee breaks, restaurant visits, or even sightseeing stops.
+The interface lets users select how long they want to spend at each stop, and all of this is calculated into the trip duration.
 
-## Instructions
+Fare & Route Calculation:
 
-### Step 1: Choose a topic
+I've implemented Google Maps Directions Service to calculate the complete route.
+It sums up the total distance, estimated driving duration, and adds the time spent at each stop, giving users a complete overview of their trip, much like the summary you see when booking an Uber ride.
 
-Choose a topic that is fruitfully explained with some combination of narrative and geographic elements. Stick with the data domain that you chose for your story map if you can. Think about what kind of decisions you want to support through the use of your dashboard. Evaluate any dataset or interactive element you add to your dashboard on whether it makes it actually supports making those decisions.
+Where Things Stand Now:
 
-Whatever data you use, **be sure to include citations somewhere in your app interface**.
+The project is still a work in progress, with core features like Google Maps integration, adding stops, and fare calculation working well.
+I'm still ironing out the Yelp API integration and improving the drawing functionality so users can more intuitively mark areas and get information about them.
+It’s far from finished, but I’m determined to keep working on it and make it the all-in-one journey planner I envisioned.
+How This Tool Helps Users (And Uber)
+A Better Ride Experience: Rather than just offering a basic point A to B service, this tool helps riders plan an entire journey—choosing stops, calculating fares, and exploring places along the way.
+Explore While You Travel: Whether it's a long road trip or just a ride across town, users can explore local areas, find great restaurants, and decide on stops without needing to switch between different apps.
+More Informed Decisions: By integrating review data (thanks to Yelp), the tool helps users pick better spots for food, attractions, and other services.
+The Current Challenges
+Yelp API Integration:
 
-### Step 2: Create a map on your browser
-
-The main component of the dashboard is the map displayign spatial information. This is the building block of all your other features!
-
-* Create basic html with head and body elements, linking to your css stylesheet and javascript file
-* Create map element in html document
-* Style map element in CSS to give it height
-* Create map object in Javascript referencing leaflet quickstart https://leafletjs.com/examples/quick-start/ (will need to link to leaflet documents in your html)
-* Add a basemap tile layer - use OpenStreetMap, Stamen, Mapbox, or another source - you can customize this!
-* NOTE: you may want to separate the code for creating the map into a different javascript file for organization. If you do this, wrap the creation of the map into a function and export that function, and then import it in your main.js file.
-
-### Step 3: Add data to your map
-
-* Add data file to your repository folder (usually in a data subfolder) - remember geojson files work best, csv files work too but must be parsed using csv parse https://csv.js.org/parse/ or papa parse https://www.papaparse.com/ . See [the course resources](https://github.com/musa-6110-fall-2023/course-info/blob/main/resources/data-format-csv.md) for a guide to getting started with those libraries.
-* Use fetch API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API to load your data into your environment (remember, fetch returns a promise, not a file, and a file needs to be extracted from the promise)
-* Create map layer to display data (ie LayerGroup, Marker, etc.. see documentation https://leafletjs.com/reference.html) - style the layer here, not in CSS because CSS cannot access styles within the map 
-* Display data through your map layer (either create an empty layer and pass the data through in a separate function, or input the data directly when you create the layer)
-* optional: attach popup https://leafletjs.com/reference.html#popup and tooltip https://leafletjs.com/reference.html#tooltip to your data layer for more interactivity
-
-### Step 4: Create an interactive element (ie search, highlight, print data, etc)
-
-This is the most broad step because you could do so many different things like: 
-* button to filter data shown on map
-* checkbox to filter data shown on map
-* search bar to type in to filter data shown on map (more difficult - try only if you've already accomplished the button)
-* paste/display text of data attributes when you click on the data layer on the map
-* graph data shown on map
-
-The general steps to accomplish these are:
-* create an html element for the interactive piece (ie button, checkbox, searchbar, graph) ps. if you're interactive event will be clicking on the map, no extra element is needed
-* create a DOM (document object model) element in javascript to set up an event listener - reference DOM exercise we did in class https://github.com/musa-6110-fall-2023/dom-exercises
-* create an event listener (event examples: click a button, check a checkbox, click a map data layer)
-* create a function which responds when the event has happened
-* create a function to parse through data (will require for loop) and accomplish one of the following:
-    * clear data layer and display only the filtered data
-    * print in space outside map (new html element) information about the data
-    * pass data shown on map through a graph and display
-
-### Step 5: Finishing touches (styling, linting, accessibility)
-
-* style the map and data to your liking, which can include doing things like:
-   * customizing your basemap tiles
-   * customizing your marker/data layer style (using your own image in replace for the marker image)
-   * changing fonts and colors in the csv
-
-Make sure to lint use eslint or stylelint to ensure your code is using the widely acceptable syntax
-
-Check for accessibility using:
-* Axe DevTools in browser
-* accessible colors for someone looking at your map, reference colorbrewer or other sites for help with this 
-
-
-
+The idea was to let users "draw" on the map to create a custom area of interest. This feature is inspired by property search tools and seemed like a great way to narrow down restaurant searches, but there are still improvements to be made. The basic drawing works, but making it smoother and more user-friendly is next on my list.