Participating in the Hackathon Olomouckého kraje 2024 was an exhilarating experience for our team, NTL-CUP. The event, officially titled “Hackathon Olomouckého kraje 2024, aneb když data promluví,” challenged us to create a product or process using publicly available datasets within a tight 48-hour timeframe. Despite the competitive field, which included 11 teams from across the country and professionals from companies like Škoda Digital, we managed to secure the first place with our innovative parking optimization solution.
By 11 PM on the first day, we had conceptualized our project: an application to provide real-time information about parking spaces, facilitating better sharing and optimization of parking in the Hanácká metropolis. Our solution involved using camera components to monitor public parking areas and detect available spaces through neural networks. Due to time constraints, we connected our application to public cameras with accessible online addresses, allowing us to gather live images for our project.
The backend of our application was designed to process these images using neural networks trained to detect parking spots and vehicles. The data was then stored in a database, providing real-time information about parking lot occupancy. The frontend comprised mobile and web applications linked to the Google Maps API, enabling users to search for parking spaces near their destination. The application displayed the nearest parking lots, the number of available spots, and a histogram of occupancy over time. Additionally, users could navigate to the selected parking lot via integrated links to navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze.
In the final sprint of our 48-hour effort, we hosted the entire application on AWS, allowing anyone to test it during our presentation to the judges. The competition was fierce, with diverse projects ranging from demographic analyses of Olomouc to applications for quick alerts in case of an attack. The technical execution and creativity of the other teams were impressive, spanning from high school level to professional standards. Winning first place by a single point was a testament to our hard work and innovative approach.
Participating in the Hackathon Olomouckého kraje 2024 was a remarkable journey, filled with challenges, teamwork, and triumph. It demonstrated the power of collaboration and innovation, and we are happy that we went thrue this experience.
