Home / ECCE App Challenge 2018 Teams

App: Food 4 All

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Mission Statement:

As cities grow from people moving into urban areas, this means that more people need more food, goods, and services that are accessible and within reasonable distance from their location. Transportation inadequacy becomes a barrier when trying to access healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate foods. Those most affected by food insecurity are seniors, low income families, newcomers, people with disabilities and single parents. Food insecurity is the state of being without access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

Food insecurity is an issue Halifax currently faces. Compared to other urban centres, Halifax is one of the most food insecure cities in Canada. As the Halifax Regional Centre continues to sprawl due to cost of housing, access to affordable food becomes more costly. Halifax has recently taken upon the Smart Cities Challenge to tackle the issue of food insecurity. Solutions to this issue will be addressed through innovation, data, and technology.

Our application seeks to use a collection of data connecting food resources and ways to get there. Our goal is to provide an app where community members can locate and direct themselves to the closest food resources, and to provide local vendors/producers with the opportunity to post temporary or permanent food services in their communities.

Video Presentation

Documentation

Team Members

Tyler Boutilier: (left) Hello there! My name is Tyler Boutilier and I am a planning student at Dalhousie University. I’ve spent the past few years as an engineering technologist working on projects throughout Atlantic Canada. Going back to school as a planning student has really opened my eyes to how important participating in your local community is. I believe that we should all strive to be active participants in our lives, and not simply spectator’s waiting for change to happen! In my spare time I enjoy learning new cooking techniques, developing my graphic design skills, painting and hanging out with my beautiful little niece.

Leah Fulton: (middle) Hi there! My name is Leah Fulton and I’m a 2nd year undergraduate student at Dalhousie University’s School of Planning. I’m passionate about sustainable transportation and I’m excited to continue learning GIS. Next year I will to be headed to Perth, Australia to broaden my perspective of community design and learn about Perth’s innovations in urban sprawl. Aside from my interest in city planning, I love biking, running, sketching and my dog, Roxy. I’m very excited to be a part this challenge and hope to learn more about GIS and application design!

Mikaila Bickford: (right) Hi! My name is Mikaila Bickford and I am currently finishing my Masters of Marine Management degree. My academic background is in social anthropology, so I was excited to tackle the prevalent issue of food security using ArcGIS. I love the way that technology and open data can intersect to communicate critical issues to decision makers and the public. When I am not in the GIS lab, I am outside exploring or scuba diving.