Hydrofy

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to find the nearest restroom?

I certainly have, and I am not alone. According to a study done by the American Crohns Foundation, over 53% of respondents experienced trouble locating the nearest restroom in the last 7 days. Even worse, over 20% experienced a bowel accident, which can completely ruin your day. This was especially relevant for me as I was traveling in a foreign country, didn’t know the language and signage, and eating foreign street food, and ended up having a few close calls.

That’s why I am so excited to introduce Hydrofy! Find the nearest restroom, crowdsourced, verified by AI, and powered by blockchain.

Hydrofy is a decentralized platform that enables users to view, verify, and contribute to a comprehensive map of nearby restrooms and water fountains. It leverages:

1. Crowdsourcing to collect location data and facility information.
2. AI (Google Gemini 1.5 Flash) for image verification and validation.
3. Blockchain technology to ensure transparency, immutability, and trust.

Hydrofy not only helps users find clean, reliable facilities but also empowers the community to fill gaps by adding missing ones, ensuring everyone has access to these critical amenities.

• Frontend: Built using Next.js and React for a fast, server-rendered application with a responsive and interactive user interface. Styled with Tailwind CSS to streamline UI development with utility-first CSS classes.

• AI: Integrated Google Gemini 1.5 Flash API for image verification. This AI ensures submitted facilities (restrooms or water fountains) match their descriptions, reducing spam and errors.

• Deployment: Hosted on Vercel, providing seamless deployment, lightning-fast load times, and automated scaling to handle global traffic efficiently.

• Map: Used Mapbox JS for interactive maps, showing user facilities with color-coded markers (blue for water fountains, grey for restrooms). Mapbox's powerful geo-spatial tools enable dynamic visualization and interactivity.

• Read/Write to Smart Contract: Leveraged viem and wagmi for efficient interactions with Ethereum smart contracts, enabling secure, immutable submissions of facility data on-chain.

• Wallet Integration: Incorporated Dynamic for wallet management, allowing users to connect and interact with their crypto wallets effortlessly, ensuring identity and accountability.