Team Name
Hotspot
Timeline
Summer 2025 – Fall 2025
Students
- Matthew Fontenot – Computer Science
- Balaputradewa Ratuwina – Computer Science
- Joseph Publico – Computer Science
- Adesola Bello – Computer Science
- Wakana Morokoshi – Computer Science
Abstract
Hotspot is a simple and easy to use mobile application designed to help college students find and create events to attend. Our main goal is to create an app that has a consolidated list of all events posted by colleges on their websites as well as students that post their own events on the app. By using this mobile application users will reduce the amount of time they spend searching for relevant events they want to attend to.
Background
Despite the constant array of social activities that campuses host, several students at the University of Texas at Arlington and other universities often struggle to find and participate in events that align with their interests. Traditional clubs and organizations often require long-term commitments, formal memberships, or exclusive invitations, whereas more casual, spontaneous, or niche gatherings require an already established circle of friends. Thus, limited visibility, excessive regulations, and social barriers tend to discourage students from connecting with other students and inhibit the overall social cohesion of the student body.
Project Requirements
- A simplistic and intuitive user interface
- On-boarding process to help us understand the user’s school and preferences
- Tag system to reorganize information if the user has selected it during a search, or has it as a preference
- Main page that has a curated feed of events for the user to view
- Explore page that has popular events for users to view
- Create event page for users to create their own events so that other users view and sign up.
- Profile/Account so that we can keep track of user information
- A search engine to search for a specific event
- Notification system to notify users of important event postings.
- View event page to see event description and other important information about the event.
Design Constraints
- Platform Compatibility: The app must be able to run on both Android and Apple mobile devices.
- Network Dependencies: The app relies on a stable internet connection to connect to services to update events dynamically.
- UI/UX Limitations: Mobile screens have limited space to convey graphical information and must be kept to a minimum.
- Data Storage & Scalability: Firebase database has storage and query limitations that must be kept in mind if the project were to increase in scale.
- Security & Privacy Compliance: Must comply with data protection laws for handling and using a user’s data.
Engineering Standards
- WCAG 2.2: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines for digital accessibility compliance
- ISO 9241-112: Ergonomics of human-system interaction — Principles for the presentation of information
- ISO/IEC 27001: Information security management systems requirements
- ISO/IEC 25010: Systems and software quality models
- Google Android/Apple Performance Guidelines: Guidelines and best practices for optimizing app performance on Android/Apple devices
System Overview
The Hotspot system is a mobile application that enables users to discover and engage with campus events through a dynamic platform. It integrates a mobile frontend, backend services, cloud hosted data storage, and third-party APIs to deliver secure authentication, efficient event browsing, and responsive user interaction.
- Frontend: The frontend is the mobile user interface built in Flutter. Which is responsible for displaying event information, handling user input, managing navigation, and providing interactive features such as maps, search, and user profiles. It ensures a consistent, responsive, and accessible experience across both iOS and Android devices.
- Backend: The backend manages core application logic, including user authentication, session handling, role-based access control, event filtering, and data validation. It acts as the intermediary between the frontend and database while enforcing security policies and ensuring correct system behavior.
- Database: The database subsystem, built using Firebase, stores all persistent information such as user accounts, event details, participation data, and application state. It supports real time updates, structured queries, and backend driven validation to keep app data synchronized and consistent.
- APIs: External APIs, including Google Maps, Algolia, and Microsoft Azure service, provide essential functionality such as geolocation, fast event search, analytics, and administrative workflows. These integrations extend system capabilities beyond the native app, ensuring accurate map data, optimized search performance, and enhanced system insights.
Results
Hotspot successfully delivers a mobile application that aligns with the client’s goals of helping students discover and interact with campus events through a clean and intuitive interface. The Architecture and design of systems followed all constraints, specifications, and requirements while still providing a strong foundation to build off of for future development.
Future Work
- Campus collaborations
- Content Moderation
- User message system
- Website development
Project Files
Project Charter
System Requirements Specification
Architectural Design Specification
Detailed Design Specification
Poster
References
- Firebase Documentation – Official documentation for Firebase Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Functions, and related mobile backend services
- Flutter Documentation – Official guides and API references for building cross-platform mobile user interfaces using the Flutter framework
- Google Android/Apple iOS Developer Guidelines – Official mobile development guidelines covering performance, UI/UX best practices, and platform-specific design standards
