Eating out, just a click away

Over 200 students take part in Nokia University App Challenge

Palestinian nationals and students of Al Ain University, Tasnim Al Khaldi (22) and Ruba Awadallah (21), are deeply concerned about the rising number of road accidents in the UAE, caused by speeding. “The figures of teenagers meeting with accidents due to speeding are too high in the UAE. It’s the loss of young lives,” said Al Khaldi.

In response to this issue, the girls devised a mobile application, iMonitor, which lets parents track their teenagers’ driving habits by sending warning messages when their children go above designated speed limits.

The girls along with almost 200 other varsity students took part in the Nokia University App Challenge, which invited students across the UAE to create their own mobile application. Students from eight universities in the UAE took part in the challenge.

Indian nationals Nabeel Kassim (20) and Zulqarnain Mehdi, from the American University of Sharjah and Troy University, Sharjah, secured the first prize. The duo created ‘BonAppetit’, an app that lets users search for restaurants in the UAE by cuisines and locations, and enables them to contact the restaurant directly. They walked away with $5,000 cash prize, as well as a trip to the Nokia Research Centre, Finland, and an internship at Nokia UAE. Meanwhile, Tasnim Al Khaldi and Ruba Awadallah received the second prize for iMonitor and walked away with a cash prize of $3,000.

Nabeel Kassim and Zulqarnain Mehdi receiving the prize.

“We had our eureka moment when we were out late one night and both of us were hit with this sudden craving for ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. We called 181 and they were not able to provide us with details of places that were open very late. So the idea for this app was born,” said Kassim.

BonAppetite has a database of all restaurants in the UAE with access to the menu, the timings and offers at the restaurant. One of the main features of the app is the food radar, which takes into account your current location and lists restaurants within a 5km radius. “Winning was a great moment for the both of us. This is our first app,” said Kassim.

A student of software engineering at Al Ain University, Al Khaldi said that she and Awadallah decided to design this app after their University professor suggested that the GPS has become common nowadays. The unique app has a database of speed limits of different city streets. Once the app is downloaded on to the mobile phone, it matches the speed the vehicle is moving at with the specified speed limits on the road. If the driver exceeds the speed limit, a text message is send to the connected phone number. The app takes regular updates of speed limits and location of the car and in this case, warns a parent if their child is driving above the designated speed limit.

“The application is for parents who want to keep an eye on their children. iMonitor is our first app and we are looking forward to making many more. It was really exciting for us to win,” said Al Khaldi. A student of Networks and Communications engineering, Awadallah said that they took about seven months to complete the project. “It’s a means to being safe on the roads,” she added. Currently, the girls are working on updating the app.

All the apps developed during the competition, including the winning apps, will be soon available on the Nokia Store to download for all Nokia users.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com