TIDALENSE

Tidalense makes the invisible safety of water visible, instant, and actionable! It’s your global Tidal Sense for the world around you, and a personal Tidal Lens for the water right in front of you.

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A dual perspective on water quality, from orbit to your bottle

Inspiration 💡

Water is life, yet for millions, its safety is hidden in plain sight. We live in a world where we can track hurricanes from space, but often cannot tell if the water in our bottle is safe to drink. The data exists, but it is fragmented and inaccessible.

The pivotal spark for Tidalense came from groundbreaking research by Dr. Karl Kaiser at Texas A&M University at Galveston. His team is pioneering a method that uses satellite imagery to detect microplastics by analyzing how they alter light reflection on the ocean’s surface. This was a revelation for us. Invisible pollutants could be made visible through data.

That insight revealed a massive disconnect. If satellites can detect microplastics from orbit using light patterns, why can we not bring that same level of insight to individuals on the ground?

We wanted to bridge this gap.

What if you could combine the macro power of global satellite monitoring with a micro level personal lab technician in your pocket?
That is the vision behind Tidalense. ✨

What It Does

Tidalense is a dual perspective water quality platform that combines macro level environmental monitoring with micro level personal analysis.

🌍 Global Water Map (The Macro Lens or "Tidal Sense")

An interactive, real time visualization of water bodies across the globe. It aggregates data on:

  • Algae blooms
  • Pollution indicators
  • Temperature changes

This provides a clear, contextual view of environmental health at scale. It gives users a sense of water quality before they ever step in.

🔬 MicroScan AI (The Micro Lens)

A personal water quality detective. Users point their camera at a water bottle or container, and the system:

  • Analyzes visible particulates using computer vision
  • Verifies brand authenticity to detect counterfeit bottled water

It acts as a lens that reveals what is happening inside your specific drink.

How We Built It ⚙️

Tidalense was engineered to be fast, intelligent, and accessible using a modern, scalable tech stack.

AI and Reasoning (The Brain)

Google Gemini
Gemini serves as the core reasoning engine. Rather than displaying raw values like “pH 8.1”, it:

  • Interprets sensor, visual, and environmental data
  • Generates human readable safety summaries
  • Explains why water is safe or unsafe

It acts like an expert water sommelier in your pocket.

Computer Vision
Using OpenCV and TensorFlow.js, we built browser based CV models that:

  • Detect visible contaminants
  • Perform bottle shape and label analysis to identify counterfeits

Data and Backend (The Backbone)

MongoDB Atlas

  • Stores global water body data and user reports
  • Uses geospatial indexing for instant “water quality near me” queries

FastAPI

  • High performance Python backend
  • Orchestrates AI inference and data aggregation
  • Serves the frontend with ultra low latency

Frontend and Visualization (The Face)

Mapbox GL

  • Renders interactive global maps
  • Displays complex environmental data layers smoothly

Next.js and React

  • Fast, SEO friendly, app like experience
  • Works seamlessly across devices

Challenges We Ran Into ⚠️

Data Consistency
Environmental APIs like USGS and local sensor networks all use different formats. We built a normalization layer to standardize incoming data.

Browser Based CV Performance
Running computer vision directly in the browser is resource heavy. We optimized TensorFlow.js models to ensure smooth mobile performance without excessive battery drain.

Invisible Pollutants
Microplastics and chemical contaminants are not reliably detectable with a standard camera. Instead of overpromising, we used Gemini to infer potential risks using contextual data such as location, recent reports, and visual cues.

Accomplishments We Are Proud Of

  • Seamless Macro to Micro Transition
    Users can move naturally from global water health to personal water analysis.

  • Real Time AI Interpretation
    Gemini provides instant, meaningful explanations rather than generic outputs.

  • A Beautiful, Fluid UI
    The product feels like a modern consumer app, not a research prototype.

What We Learned

Context Is Everything
A cloudy water image alone is meaningless. Combining location, environmental history, and visual cues transforms analysis quality.

The Power of Story
Framing features as “Tidal Sense” and “Tidal Lens” helped keep the product intuitive and user focused.

What’s Next for Tidalense

  • Community Reporting
    Users can submit Tidal Reports, validated by Gemini before appearing on the map.

  • Hardware Integration
    Partnering with low cost water sensor manufacturers for lab grade accuracy.

  • AR Overlays
    Augmented Reality projections of water quality data directly onto the real world as users walk near lakes or rivers.

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