Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Platform

EcoTrack is a cutting-edge platform for environmental reporting and monitoring; it manages the distribution of environmental data and modifies it. This platform, a backend API built with Node.js, was developed to provide a robust framework for user interaction, data collection, and insightful reporting to satisfy the growing need for all-encompassing environmental solutions.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Project Folders
• Features
• Technologies Used
• Getting Started
• API Documentation
• Testing
• Vision

Introduction

EcoTrack serves as a robust backend API designed to handle environmental data collection, user profile management, environmental alerts, community reporting, sustainability scoring, educational resources provision, and open data access for researchers and organizations. It's a platform aimed at promoting environmental awareness, facilitating data sharing, and encouraging sustainable practices.

Features

Main Features:

1. Data Collection: Enables users to submit environmental data from various sources like IoT sensors, manual observations, or data uploads.
2. User Profiles: Users can create and manage profiles to track contributions and connect with others.
3. Environmental Alerts: Notification system for significant changes or concerning trends in environmental data.
4. Community Reporting: Allows users to report environmental issues such as pollution, deforestation, or wildlife endangerment.
5. Sustainability Score: A scoring system assessing users' environmental contributions and sustainability efforts.
6. Educational Resources: Provides articles and guides on environmental topics to raise awareness and educate users.
7. Open Data Access: Offers APIs for researchers, scientists, and organizations to access aggregated environmental data for research and analysis.

Additional Features:

• Socket.IO Integration: bidirectional communication between clients and server.
• External API Integration: Utilized to enhance functionality and supplement data collection.

Technologies Used

• Node.js: Backend development platform.
• Socket.IO: Real-time communication for alerts.
• MySQL: Database for CRUD operations.
• Postman: API building, testing and documentation tool.
• Git: Version control system.
• Axios: making and managing HTTP requests.

Getting Started

To get started with EcoTrack API, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/AdvancedSoftwareTeam/EcoTrack.git
2. Install dependencies: npm install
3. Configure environment variables.
4. Setup the database using mysql ( sql code is inside database folder ).
5. Run the application: npm start

API Documentation

The API is fully documented using Postman. Access the documentation here.

Testing

Postman Testing Strategy

We have employed Postman for comprehensive API testing to ensure the functionality, reliability, and accuracy of the EcoTrack platform. Our testing strategy involves:

• Automated Tests: Writing automated test scripts within Postman to perform API endpoint testing, covering scenarios for data submission, user profile management, environmental alerts, community reporting, and more.
• Environment Setup: Configuring different environments within Postman to simulate various conditions and perform thorough testing.
• Collection Runs: Executing collection runs in Postman to validate endpoints, data validations, authentication mechanisms, and error handling.

Instructions for Testing Using Postman:

1. Import the provided Postman collection.
2. Set up the necessary environment variables, choose the EcoTrack Env.
3. Run collection tests individually or perform a collection run to test various API endpoints.

Demo

click on the following link to watch the testing demo video.

Vision

EcoTrack strives to be more than a data platform—it's a catalyst for change. Through collaboration, awareness, and informed decisions, it spearheads environmental initiatives, empowering global communities and organizations.