CSS-Community Solar Solutions

Updated at 11:00 PM EST, October 2nd

David completed the set of high-fidelity wireframes for all four user flows and reviewed them with Brandon. The team will finalize a presentation for these flows and submit it by 11:00 AM EST, on October 3rd.

Updated at 6:00 PM EST.

We completed the set of user flows, most of the low-fidelity wireframes, and decided on a style guide for the mobile app. The data from the API is in the process of being pulled.

David will being updating the low-fidelity wireframes to make sure the filter criteria pulls data relevant from the NASA Power site, and that the low-fidelity wireframes are comprehensive. David will then build out the high-fidelity wireframes for the app, and have them set to be submitted to the group at 11:00 PM EST.

Kelly will work on creating a logo for the app, as well as getting the content prepared for our final submission.

There will be a check-in meeting at 11:00 PM EST.

3:00 PM

A set of initial user flows were set-up, and it was decided that the following flows would have the highest priority.

1. Viewing the Rooftop Solar Availability/Power Generating Capacity for a specific address
2. Viewing the NASA Solar Power Data
3. Registering an Account
4. Viewing Resources for Help

A style tile is in the process of being developed.

1:45 PM

Four written user flows have been finalized, and are being turned into visual user flows through the Whimsical website. A style guide for the mobile app is in the process of being developed.

Research is being done on how to identify which NASA Solar Power Data needs to be incorporated into the app.

Per our office hours discussion at 12:30 PM EST, we need to focus on the following aspects of the submission.

1. Demonstrate how NASA Solar Power Data is used throughout the app. The goal is to show how NASA space data was leveraged in creating the app.
2. Making sure to document all steps and actions we take during the hackathon, to show how we arrived at our final product. Visual artifacts like Whimsical flow charts are encouraged.
3. Using a variety of open-data sources, like NYC Open Data, would help enhance our project.

Our pre-hackathon work:

Prior to the hackathon, our team conducted user research by interviewing 3-4 people with an interest in roof-top solar. We also developed an initial product roadmap of "must-have" and "nice-to-have" features, based on the "You Are My Sunshine" challenge description.

An obstacle we faced at the beginning was that the developer who initially organized our team left after the first introductory meeting we had, but our team decided to continue on.

Based off the results of these interviews, we came up with the following use case for our challenge: Create a knowledge base/guide for low-income communities who want to understand how solar panels can benefit them and their local communities, and an explanation of the resources available for them to get started in solar.

Right now, at approximately 12:50 PM EST we are in the process of finalizing use cases and proposed user flows for our application. Updates as to what steps we are at in the process will be given regularly.