Space Apps Challenge 2017

Have you ever looked out the window of an airplane and wondered what it would be like to travel down into those places instead of over them? At WindowSeat, we believe each flight is an opportunity to engage with the locations you’re flying over. Our app transforms your flight path into a location-based augmented reality experience.

Research shows that we learn best when the content we attain connects back to our personal lives and contexts. So imagine how much we could learn if we re-envisioned each plane trip as a personal journey into parts of the world we’ve never visited before.

WindowSeat allows you to explore geographic locations in realtime from the air and choose learning opportunities associated with those location contexts. When you first sign up, you select a few topics of interest. Then, as you fly, WindowSeat shows you personalized learning opportunities related to your flight path. It collects points and progress from various learning apps to show all of your learning progress in one place and in the context of a larger system. Integrations include NASA Global Maps, Wikipedia, TripAdvisor, Google Maps, local trends via Twitter, and a massive open online course aggregator.

The app allows you to drop pins in places you’ve learned about, and you can choose to log your flight paths to show friends where you’ve traveled, both in the app and on social media. WindowSeat allows you to opt in to participate in learning challenges with other passengers currently in the air, and we are working with airlines to provide the ability to participate in team trivia and challenges related to your flight path along with other passengers on your flight – transforming each plane trip into a chance to learn more, connect more, and explore more of our world.

No matter where you’re sitting on the plane, you have the WindowSeat.

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Kat Clark: UX, graphic design, video
Mark Langer: app development, API integration

Resources used: Xcode, Sketch, Adobe Photoshop, iMovie, various API documentations, Creative Commons, archive.org, NASA Global Maps, Wikipedia, Google Maps, GitHub. All media is either original, public domain, or available for open adaptation through Creative Commons.

Time constraints: Chose the hackathon challenge on Friday night (Pilots Plus), began hacking Saturday morning, finished the prototype and marketing materials on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and presented to the judges that afternoon.