Miki Lombardi

Covid-19 - A crowdsourced map for checking supermarket wait times worldwide

See how a simple Python and Redis app, built on a Raspberry Pi, scaled to serve millions of users during a global crisis for just $25 a month.

Covid-19 - A crowdsourced map for checking supermarket wait times worldwide
#1about 4 minutes

Addressing long supermarket queues during the COVID-19 lockdown

The global lockdown in 2020 created long, unsafe lines at essential stores, sparking the need for a solution to manage wait times.

#2about 5 minutes

Building a crowdsourced map to track wait times

The project's core idea was to use a map interface and user-submitted data to provide real-time estimates of wait times at local stores.

#3about 2 minutes

Prototyping the application on a Raspberry Pi

The initial version of the application was built with Python and Flask and hosted on a Raspberry Pi 3B for local testing among friends.

#4about 10 minutes

Migrating from local hosting to a cloud architecture

To handle viral traffic growth, the architecture was moved from a single Raspberry Pi to multiple VPS instances on OVH and Digital Ocean.

#5about 4 minutes

Leveraging Redis for geospatial data management

Redis and its geospatial index commands were critical for efficiently storing, querying, and managing location points and distances on the map.

#6about 5 minutes

Analyzing the project's minimal operational costs

The entire project was run on a very low budget, costing only about $25 per month for cloud services to support millions of user sessions.

#7about 3 minutes

Reflecting on the project's impact and open source

The open-source project successfully served over a million users and highlighted the power of community collaboration in solving real-world problems.

#8about 1 minute

Q&A: Tracking map usage against pandemic spread

User traffic on the map showed a strong correlation with the geographical spread of the pandemic, starting in Italy and moving to the Americas.

#9about 9 minutes

Q&A: Technical lessons and potential future applications

The project could be improved with better code optimization instead of relying heavily on caching, and its technology could be adapted for other use cases like conferences.

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