unicab_restapi

RESTful API for the UniCab application, as part of the project course at Strathmore University. The API was used with the UniCab Android application, also developed within the frame of the project course; providing the app with four main functionalities:

• Checking if user exists in database
• Adding a new user
• Finding the two closest passengers for ridesharing
• Managing existing users and trips

API endpoints

Login and signup:

• GET: http://{ip-address}/api/userInDatabase/?email={theEmailOfUser}
  • Will return error message if user not in DB, which will prompt the user to signup w. Google Account
  • Otherwise a JSON object with the user information will be returned
• POST: http://{ip-address}/api/userInDatabase/

  • Add new user to DB (signup), the body of the POST request have to provide a unique email address and the following attributes: "id", "first_name", "last_name", "email", "date_of_birth", "phone_nr", "faculty", "home_latitude", "home_longitude", "profile_picture", "description"

  • Additional attributes of the database that are set by default are:

    Attribute	Default
    nr_of_trips_done	0
    avg_rating	NULL
    is_searching	FALSE
    phone_verified	FALSE

Searching for nearby users:

• GET: http://{ip-address}/distanceview/{theUserEmail}/
  • Will return the top two passengers for ridesharing based on a simplified Euclidian distance measure
  • The query for choosing the passengers is based on the is_searching flag being TRUE
  • The query orders ASC by distance and the the two top candidates are selected
  • Thus, the calculation is simplified and leave room for future improvements by:
    • Considering the actual path to/from school as well as distance from user.
    • Implement threshold for choosing a second additional passenger based on actual time or cost reduced (sometimes it will simply not be cost effective to pick another person up)
  • The candidates will be returned as JSON objects with all relevant information

Additional feature

User management:

• Overviewing, adding, editing and removing users from the PostGreSQL database via a simple GUI.
  • Overview users: http://{ip-address}/admin/usermanager/users/
  • Add user: http://{ip-address}/admin/usermanager/users/add/
  • Edit user: http://{ip-address}/admin/usermanager/users/{theUserID}/change/
  • Remove user: http://{ip-address}/admin/usermanager/users/
    • Select user object to be removed from list.

Balsamiq Prototype

1. Signup & login

2. Initiate ride

3. Find peers

3.1 To home

3.2 To school

4. Additional screens