Description
: The app comes with two features: (1) notifying user if he/she has come in contact with COVID-19 positive people, (2) a news feed where users can post reliefs requests anonymously.
“COVID-19 Alert App” app notifies users if he/she has come in contact (within 20 meters) with COVID-19 infected person (who also has to use the app) in the past 7 days. For this, user location information is tracked with proper permission requests and ensuring user privacy. User uploads all his/her tracked locations and home location (not any other personal information) to cloud server only when he/she tests positive for COVID-19, otherwise the tracked location information is stored locally on user’s device and used for querying cloud database for possible matches. During query or upload, user locations and their corresponding time stamps are converted into 20 meter x 20 meter blocks for fast access and defining a radius of user’s presence. The App is designed for nationwide use, as a result, the database storage can get huge. To improve database access efficiency the block generation for a location acts as a hash function which enables implementation of hash algorithm (broadly discussed in the project report provided). The other major feature is users can post queries and relief posts on a global news feed. Relief posts are completely anonymous, through user provided contact number. This is especially targeted at middle class distressed families who are reluctant to seek help openly.
