{"id":58371,"date":"2016-04-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-computer-science-student-and-his-team-win-first-place-in-hackpvd-competition-in-providence\/"},"modified":"2016-04-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T00:00:00","slug":"uri-computer-science-student-and-his-team-win-first-place-in-hackpvd-competition-in-providence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2016\/04\/uri-computer-science-student-and-his-team-win-first-place-in-hackpvd-competition-in-providence\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 computer science student and his team win first place in HackPVD competition in Providence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I., April 28, 2016\u2014Nicholas Peltier went to a hackathon at the 溏心vlog免费B站 last year and immediately felt regret: \u201cIt was so cool, I wished I had signed up.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nA few weeks ago, he found out about a hackathon in Providence and jumped at the opportunity. Good thing he did. Not only did the 溏心vlog免费B站 computer science major win first place, he came away believing that his product has a future in the tech world.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt was very exciting,\u201d says Peltier, 23, of Coventry. \u201cIt was surreal. As a computer science student I can use the win as part of my resume. It\u2019s very validating to me personally.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPeltier teamed up with four other computer whizzes from Massachusetts\u2014Charles Randell, Richard Childers and Daniel Christensen and his brother, Joseph Christensen\u2014to create Tunnel Vision, a Google Maps-oriented application that detects underground sewer and gas lines.<\/p>\n


\nHackPVD, organized by Arnell Milhouse and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza’s administration, was a free event April 15 through 17 at the Providence Public Library that challenged computer programmers to come up with creative solutions to solve city problems.<\/p>\n


\nPeltier showed up at the event, without anyone to work with on a team. He went over to a group of guys who seemed to be around his age. They said they had an idea\u2014the Tunnel Vision\u2014and that they needed a programmer.


\nPeltier made his pitch: He suggested putting the application in a mobile phone with Smartwatch capabilities. He also told them he had experience programming Android phone applications, as well as Android Wear Smartwatch applications.<\/p>\n


\nThey clicked, and got to work.<\/p>\n


\nTunnel Vision could benefit companies who need to dig a hole in the ground before construction can start, even work as simple as a driveway foundation. To get permission to dig now, the companies have to go through Dig Safe.<\/p>\n


\nDig Safe contacts the various companies responsible for sewage, telecommunications and gas to determine if it\u2019s safe to dig in a certain area. The process can take well over a month, which wastes time, money and resources.<\/p>\n


\nPeltier and his team came up with the idea to use Google Maps. Here\u2019s how it works: The user enters two street addresses and Google Maps displays the coordinates of that location, as well as the coordinates of the user\u2019s location. <\/p>\n


\nA three-dimensional cube appears in the phone app. A street view of Google Maps then shows up on top of the cube. By working with the user\u2019s information and a database with the pipes\u2019 location, size, depth and length, the code displays what\u2019s in the ground.<\/p>\n


\nThe application also works with Smartwatches, guiding the user to a safe location to dig. In addition, the application has a step-counter feature. Every five steps the user takes, the cube is reloaded and redrawn, giving a seamless update at all times of what lies beneath. <\/p>\n


\nGrowing up in Coventry, Peltier never excelled in school. \u201cI had a hard time fitting in,\u201d he says. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the Community College of Rhode Island, where he buckled down, making the Dean\u2019s List.<\/p>\n


\nIn the spring of 2014, he earned his associate\u2019s degree in liberal arts and transferred to 溏心vlog免费B站 the following fall. He enjoyed his programming classes at CCRI and decided to pursue more of those courses at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI flourished,\u201d he says. \u201cThe professors are the biggest part of my success. They\u2019re so smart and good at what they do. I also made excellent use of the tutoring centers and computer labs.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nKunal Mankodiya, an assistant professor in the University\u2019s Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, provided guidance and instilled confidence in the 溏心vlog免费B站 senior.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI don’t think I would have been able to do the hackathon without the knowledge I gained from Kunal,\u201d says Peltier. \u201cHe taught me how to integrate Smartwatch data into mobile applications and that was really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nMankodiya was happy to help: \u201cAfter Nick watched the 溏心vlog免费B站 hackathon that I organized last fall he showed an immediate interest in joining our Wearable Biosensing Lab. In a few months, he rapidly demonstrated his ability to program modern Smartwatches and Smartphones. I\u2019m really thrilled to see him win HackPVD. I suggested he play up his strength in programming. He executed the plan exactly. I\u2019m so proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPeltier is confident that Tunnel Vision has a future. He says the product is \u201cincredibly\u201d useful to cities and towns and could save them time and money. \u201cIt just goes to show,\u201d he says, \u201cthat a simple idea and a dedicated team can produce something amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above: <\/p>\n


\nFrom left to right: Daniel Christensen; Nicholas Peltier; Charles Randell; and Joseph Christensen. Photo courtesy of Nicholas Peltier.<\/p>\n


\nFrom left to right: Daniel Christensen; Nicholas Peltier; Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza; Joseph Christensen; and Charles Randell. Photo courtesy of Intracity Geeks.\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I., April 28, 2016\u2014Nicholas Peltier went to a hackathon at the 溏心vlog免费B站 last year and immediately felt regret: \u201cIt was so cool, I wished I had signed up.\u201d A few weeks ago, he found out about a hackathon in Providence and jumped at the opportunity. Good thing he did. Not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}