Map of each cat's zones
Home page
Cat details
Upload sighting screen
Welcome screen

Project Story: MeowMap 🐾🐱

Inspiration 🌍

Track: Most Innovative: Environment
Campus cats at UF are a part of the ecosystem, but they can also impact local wildlife if not cared for properly. Inspired by our love for animals and environmental sustainability, we wanted to create a platform that tracks campus cat sightings, promotes responsible care, and advocates for ethical practices like Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

What it Does 📱

MeowMap lets users log campus cat sightings, share locations, and upload photos. Users can also view known cat boundaries on the map and explore recent posts with descriptions. The app helps keep track of the cats’ well-being while providing educational resources on responsible feeding and ethical cat care 🐱🌱. Users can also learn about TNR and how it helps maintain a healthy, sustainable campus cat population.

How We Built It 🛠️

We built MeowMap using SwiftUI for the front-end to create a fun and interactive user experience. We used Supabase to store sighting data and images, ensuring real-time updates. The app is designed to be easy to use on iOS, allowing students and faculty to make a positive impact on campus cats with minimal effort.

Challenges We Ran Into ⚔️

We faced challenges integrating real-time data with Supabase, ensuring smooth performance when many users report sightings at once. Balancing a playful, cute design with educational content also took some trial and error. We worked through these by collaborating as a team and using online resources for Supabase troubleshooting.

Where We See the Product Going Forward 🚀

In the future, we hope to publish the app to the App Store. We would like to add a system for users to follow their favorite cats and get notifications on new sightings and posts. We’d also love to improve the UI to make it even more visually engaging and reduce white space.

Built With

core-location
mapkit
supabase
swift
swiftui

Submitted to

Code for Change 2025
- Winner Most Innovative: Environment

Created by

I worked on the frontend and most of the backend. On the frontend, I created the map view and map overlays. On the backend, I integrated Supabase with our project and used it to fetch, save, and update cat data and sighting data.

Lexline Johnson
I worked on front end. I created a menu that's meant to let users choose the cats they can see on the map. This was my first time working with Swift, so it was a pretty rewarding experience.

Gabriela Houser
On this project I worked on both frontend and backend development. This was my first time using Xcode with Swift, and also learned how to build and connect an iOS app. Along the way, I learned how to implement Supabase for backend functionality and about database management into the project.

shirleymaza
I worked primarily on the frontend, designing the cat pages, home page, and camera views.

Adam Horvitz