We are Turing Lovelace VacantLots

(Property Bidding App)Co-leader Isaiah Little & Co-leader Alicina Memar

David Ruffner, Paul Turner, Benjamin BlueA

CREW

A Municipal Need for Newark

Vacant Properties First● 23% homeownership

● 43% bank owned properties vacant*

● Our project addresses a Newark problem.

*www.safeguardproperties.com/News_and_Events/All_Client_Alerts/2013/04/Newark_NJ_Floats_Around_Idea_of_Using_Eminent_Domain.aspx

● Vacant lots have an increase in exposure to risks like vandalism, fire,

theft and water damage

● Hazardous to pedestrians, cyclists, children at play

● And more...

Problem

...WE KNOW THIS!

But in case you didn’t know..

That hinders resale, hinders revitalization..

Leading to further setbacks throughout our communities.

But how do we prepare for the extreme?

City government supporting public participation in figuring out what to do with these lots.

Impact: OPPORTUNITY FOR...

..COMMUNITY INVESTMENT

An app allows the public to view

vacant properties and submit a

bid on a property.

For starters..

Our solution

Impact● With this application, Newark can sell off its vacant and unused properties● Vacant lots can be seen as investments to entrepreneurs● This can mean more jobs, commerce and prosperity for the city● In the short term, this means more business moving in● In the long term, this can mean a raise in the standard of living

NOW WE CAN ALL BE SHAQ!

How it all works: Overview● VacantLots is a mobile first responsive web application which uses a MEAN

stack model● It uses Angular 1 front end● Sass preprocessor for styling● Bootstrap for responsive design● HTML5● It uses NodeJS and MongoDb backend

● The MongoDB is spun up with one database and two collections with one of the collections having a one to many array to represent the number of bid and favorites. The property table is provided through ETL. This whole thing is hosted on a Linux VM node.

● The node server handles all of the routing for the various front end calls and uses json web tokens to authenticate calls for logged in users. It is like a middle man between the database and front end. It will make calls to the mongo database for registration, login and also to retrieve the vacant lots data (passwords are encrypted before being sent to the database). Other database calls pertain to handling a user’s profile information and also to all bids made.

How it all works: Backend

How it all works: Front End● Angular is a JavaScript framework. What this means is that it sets provides a

standard to set up the application. It uses a Model View Controller format to separate logic, data and the visual aspects of the program.

● The Sass preprocessor is written like CSS but it is gives the programmer a variety of different features. You can nest CSS, create variables and functions. You can also have all your Sass code minified automatically; this makes the code load into the page quicker.

● Bootstrap gives the user plenty of classes to write responsive websites, provides a grid system and icons.

● HTML5 is the most modern iteration of HTML.● Google’s open source material icons

How it all works: MapThe interactive map is created using Angular Google Maps which allows the Google maps API to be directly called using AngularJS. Markers are added for each property in the database. Clicking on a property calls a function which redirects to a bid page and dynamically updates with the property’s information.

Originality● Our content does not fork off of any existing web applications● It does use the set of libraries and frameworks mentioned

Scalability● The application is made for Newark but can be easily be modified to work with

cities with similar vacant lot bidding needs● Very minor changes to the code would need to be done to adapt it for

elsewhere○ Changing the source of information on vacant lots; basically a list of certain properties on

vacant lots that our backend uses as data○ Some strings of text that indicate Newark being the focus of the app

Usability● The app is not ready for immediate use, but is getting there● We would need more input from the city in general and would need to have

the city decide how it wants to retrieve information on bids● The app may need someone inside the development team maintaining it or

some kind of manual to help the city with maintaining it● The city would need to follow certain standards for uploading its vacant lot

data to our application

Source codeOur code can be found at

https://github.com/chocolatechimpcookie/cfc_vacantlots_bid