Minesweep

Inspiration

Minesweep was born from the urgent need to address systemic inequities in safe mobility during conflicts and crises. In war zones like Ukraine, marginalized communities which include refugees, the elderly, and low-income populations, often bear the brunt of violence while lacking access to real-time safety information. Traditional navigation apps like Google Maps don't have systems in place to prevent people from being in areas with reported explosion cases. We built Minesweep to fix that, creating a tool that centers human safety over convenience and community knowledge over corporate data monopolies.

What it does

Minesweep generates routes that actively avoid verified danger zones like unexploded ordnance, military checkpoints, and natural disasters. Unlike commercial apps that might show these areas with a small warning, we completely exclude them from suggested paths. This app uses real time information from Liveaumap to ensure that users are well informed about their surroundings. Users see multiple route options with average ride times and detailed risk visualizations before choosing their path.

How we built it

Our routing engine uses OpenStreetMap data combined with real-time hazard reports from trusted sources like humanitarian groups and local volunteers. The algorithm adds protective buffers around danger zones that generate safe routes based on threat severity.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into most of our challenges in designing our navigation algorithms. Standard routing engines minimize travel time above all else, while we had to develop new metrics that balance safety detours with reasonable journey durations. We implemented a multi-tier validation system combining AI pattern recognition to maintain safe routes.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We've created the first navigation system that automatically reroutes around active conflict zones with verified accuracy. We're proud to have created a reciprocal system where it provides the safest routing for civilians.

What we learned

We learned that affected communities of war have incredibly valuable safety data, it's just a matter of how we use them to help that ensures that people in need are better supported in time of conflict. Our verification system proves that we can move smarter than most popular navigation applications. Technically, we learned that safety routing requires fundamentally different levels of thinking compared to commercial navigation systems. Where Uber or Google optimize for traffic flow, we had to develop new pathfinding approaches that treat danger zones as impenetrable barriers first, then optimize remaining options. This paradigm shift led to our most important innovation - the Safety Buffer Routing System.

What's next for Minesweep

We could get into environmental hazards with wildfire and flood routing modes. We could have a mobile app that woudl include offline navigation packs for crisis regions with limited connectivity.