Space Apps Challenge 2017

LARKDATA

Please VISIT OUR Github for complete information:

https://github.com/fpunny/legacy-spaceapps-2017

What it does:

Larkdata is a tool which takes thousands of ionogram images scanned by the Canadian Space Agency to read and interpret the metadata found in each image. This tool deciphers the numeric and Binary Digital Coding use in 1963.The metadata information is integrated into a database which manages the information by allowing searches according to specific criteria. This criteria includes Station Facility, Satellite Name, Start Date/Time, and End Date/Time.

How we built it:

The webpage was first designed by the designers on our team to ensure proper aesthetics and an eye-pleasing design. The wireframe of this was then moved forward to the front-end developers who coded the webpage using HTML5 and CSS3. At the same time, the back-end developers were divided into two separate teams. The first team worked on developing a program using Python to decipher, read and interpret the metadata found in each image. The second team developed a program using PHP and Postgre SQL for the database. This was used so, when the data entered into the HTML form was submitted based on the users inputted data and applies the filters on the data set and gives the users a refined table of search results with the option to view an smaller image or download the image. The filters of the data set was made using PHP while the data is being stored in a Postgre SQL database.

Challenges we ran into:

We ran into many challenges throughout this hackathon. The first challenge which we ran into was getting a calender/date-time picker built into the webpage for a easier selection of the date and time. We first tried this using JavaScript and jQuery but, without any luck we had to revert to basic HTML calender view. We spent many hours getting this to work as the time had to be down to the second as many of the ionogram images had the exact hour and minute and were only a couple of seconds apart. If the date/time picker was not cut down to the second, the search result would yield not just one image but more images. Another challenge we faced was learning Postgre SQL and PHP within a span of 2 hours and applying it to the program. This was a major challenge for us as we did not know how to fix and go about with the errors that show up throughout the program. We spent countless hours on this part, but eventually, we got the entire webpage to work with 2 hours left on the clock.

Built With:

• Python
• Postgre SQL
• PHP 5
• HTML 5
• CSS3