Mobile App Development Case for Roam Club

travel · social · itinerary

Easily save your favorite restaurants or attractions, or follow your friends to discover the places they recommend—whether they’re just around the corner or halfway around the world.

Client Requirement

Develop a mobile application that provides users with the ability to conveniently store, search, and view their favorite places and recommendations from friends and travel bloggers via an interactive map. The app should include features for monetizing recommendations through a tipping system.

Technology Stack

Flutter mobile/web, Kotlin, Swift, External SDK, GetX, Firebase Firestore, Firebase Analytics, Firebase Auth, Firebase Cloud Functions, Firebase Storage, Firebase Hosting, Stripe SDK, Google Places API, Google Takeout, Mapbox Map Native SDK, Algolia API

Outcomes

Interactive Map with Import and Recommendation Addition

Users can add their own recommendations to the world map and import saved places from Google Maps. The app’s interactive map offers easy and intuitive navigation, allowing users to easily browse and discover recommendations from others.

Friend List Management and Blogger Search

Users can manage their friend list by searching through contacts and finding bloggers using a search system, expanding their circle of acquaintances and information sources.

Bookmarks for Saving Recommendations

Users save interesting recommendations in bookmarks and view them on a separate page for quick access to their favorite places.

Monetization through "Tip to Follow"

The “Tip to Follow” feature allows users to earn money from their recommendations by receiving tips from other users.

Social Network within the App

Users can follow other participants, turning the application into a full-fledged social network. Each profile offers detailed information, links to external social networks, a list of recommendations, and information about subscriptions and followers, encouraging interaction and experience sharing.

Challenges

Challenges

Integration of Mapbox Map Native SDK

To meet the client’s needs for fast map rendering and UX interaction, we utilized a solution that bridges native code with the Flutter app. This integration made map interactions smooth, fast, and included many additional elements enhancing the user experience.

Firebase Optimization

We optimized Firebase for real-time data updates, dynamically displaying data on the map, which helped reduce client costs for using this platform.

Use of Geohash for Displaying Markers

We implemented a data structure with geohash filtering, significantly enhancing map interaction efficiency, allowing data models to be displayed within a specific radius.

Stripe Integration for Payment Features and Webhook Implementation for Firebase and Stripe SDK Sync

To enable people to receive payments for their recommendations, we integrated Stripe into the app. Writing webhooks that are triggered by the Stripe API to update data in the Firebase database, then displaying this data to the user, was a particularly interesting part of the project.

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