What inspired me to create a COVID 19 tracking website?
When the COVID pandemic began last year, I always looked at the statistics at various websites and wondered how complex and hard it must have been for people to keep a track of the statistical data, render the data on a website in real-time. However, I would never have in my wildest dreams imagined I could also create a COVID -19 tracking app.
I was fascinated by the role of statistics and how statistical data has been the only measurable way of knowing how severely a disease like COVID has affected society at a large in a comprehensible manner. We often undermine the significance of data in this time and age. However, just imagine how hard it would have been for governments to keep a track of the pandemic during the Spanish Flu and how it must have blindsided a lot of the population that just did not have access to this information/technology.
My idea to create a COVID — 19 tracking app came to me when I was given the task to create a capstone project in order to graduate from my coding Bootcamp course at General Assembly. I think it could very well have been COVID that changed the course of my life and be the catalyst that eventually pushed me towards a new career path.
It took some research but I managed to find a free API from John Hopkins University that basically keeps a track of citywise stats in real-time.
I used REACT JS which is an open-source JavaScript library for building web apps. It is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual developers and companies. However, the map was provided by MAPBOX which is what UBER used once.
The app is configured to pull in the data from the API and plot each city using the geolocation coordinates on the given map.
Similarly, I used the data provided for Deaths, Confirmed Cases, and Active cases, and displayed the same inside a clickable popup icon.
It was really fulfilling to see that I could create something that could have some practical application. I hope to spare some more time and add functionality or features but for now, I was glad I could achieve this in just a week, it just reassured me that I was right to enroll for the SEI course @ General Assembly.
