SFU Restaurant Finder is an online web application that allows users to conveniently view information about the available restaurants on SFU Burnaby campus. Currently, the way for SFU students and faculty to find restaurants here is by using Google Maps. However, there are two main problems. First, the list is based on Google’s algorithm and is not always comprehensive and accurate (e.g. omission of certain restaurants and inclusion of locations that are not restaurants). In addition, to achieve optimal results, users need to query specific keywords and apply specific filters. Our app intends to streamline this process by displaying all restaurants in an organized, clean, and efficient manner.
On the home page, the app will display all currently open restaurants in such a way where the user will be able to see all of them. Selecting a restaurant will pull up a description of the restaurant (e.g. food type, price range, open hours, etc) and show its location using the Google Map API (including directions to get to the place from the user’s current location). In addition to directions, our web app will provide real time updates to the user’s web page if the moderator/admin has added a new restaurant (within open hour) to the app.
Beyond the minimum viable product, we hope to deliver several additional features. Highest priority feature includes the ability for users to apply filters on the list of restaurants (e.g. filter by dietary restrictions or price range). Another feature is the ability for users to rate (and potentially review) the restaurant. In addition, users should be able to sort the list of restaurant based on metrics such as distance and ratings.
We will be sharing several user stories. As a user, I want to be able to pick the most suitable restaurant that’s open on the SFU Burnaby campus at any given time. I would also want to view the directions to a specific restaurant. As an admin, I want to be able to add, edit and remove restaurants on the web app.
Emphasizing on code quality and professionalism of the app, we believe the amount of features will have a large enough scope for a 5 person project. The core idea of our web app is simple, yet highly scalable, which allows for continuous integration of new features and refinement.