tmlbl / zillow

shhhh

SmartMove: Live smarter, not harder

A web application that uses data from HUD EGIS and Google Maps to assist low-income renters and beneficiaries of government programs move closer to work and to the things that matter to them.

This application was created as a submission for the Zillow Hack Housing Hackathon

Using GeoInformation to make smart housing decisions

The application allows the user to enter a series of locations, along with how often they visit each of them. For most people, work will be the most frequent one. However, people have more complex needs. A user may be taking care of an elderly loved one, participating in an education program, or doing volunteer work or community services. By allowing an arbitrary number of locations, we get a more nuanced picture of the user's lifestyle.

The app then computes a polygon based on those locations representing the optimal area where that user could live to be close to their commitments. There are placeholders to gather more information about government programs they may qualify for and their income, and to use these factors to make suggestions of available assistance programs.

Using the HUD data

After computing the user's optimal living area (which we are calling their "habitat") we show a map of it. The toggle buttons overlay real data from the HUD APIs about housing projects, multifamily homes and housing counseling providers in that area. The ones falling inside the habitat are highlighted.

The SpaceLab Team

• David Puerto -- UI/UX Designer, Front-End Developer
• Tim Lebel -- Full-Stack Polyglot CodeWizard
• Jake Grajewski -- Full-Stack TypeScript Troll

Installation of Required Tools

1. NodeJs/npm (http://nodejs.org)
2. tsd sudo npm i -g tsd@next
3. grunt-cli sudo npm i -g grunt-cli
4. TypeScript sudo npm i -g typescript

Getting Started

1. cd into maps (cd path/to/zillow/www/maps)
2. ./build.sh
3. cd (../../)
4. node server.js
5. localhost:8080/maps/index.html