Scout troops and service · Android prototype
MyCommunity
An Android prototype designed to help families find Scout troops and give leaders a starting point for their next community service project.
Role
Android engineer
Challenge
What had to be solved
Families need a starting point for finding a troop, and leaders need ideas for service projects. MyCommunity explores bringing a troop map, organization listings, and current news together in one Android app. It remains a prototype; live troop profiles still need Firebase authentication connected to the database access rules.
Approach
How I built it
- Built mapping logic that turns Firebase troop records into named Google Maps pins, highlights the leader’s own troop, and adjusts the view to fit the available locations.
- Added guest browsing, optional location permissions, and Google Sign-In for the troop profile form. Names, contact emails, and coordinates are checked before a profile is submitted.
- Paired five service-organization listings with a New York Times news feed. OkHttp and Gson load the stories asynchronously, and Glide caches their images for smoother browsing.
Outcomes
What changed
- Four sections for troop discovery and service planning
- Five service organizations to explore
- News browsing with cached article images