Halifax
Hole Patrol
Rate potholes like Tinder. Submit them to Halifax 311. See them on a map. Fix our roads, one swipe at a time.
The Story
It Started on the Soccer Field
My friend Pat from my soccer team had been complaining about Halifax roads for months. One day he pitched the idea — what if there was an app to report potholes and actually see them on a map? Simple concept, but I was immediately interested. Not because I was passionate about road maintenance, but because I'd been looking for an excuse to play with the Google Maps API.
I'd only built a couple React Native apps before, so this felt like a good project to level up. Custom styled maps, location services, image uploads — all stuff I wanted to get better at. I reached for Supabase on the backend because it was familiar and let me move fast. The first version was pretty straightforward: report a pothole, see it on the map, done.
But after using it for a bit, I had another idea. What if people could validate each other's severity ratings? Someone reports a pothole as a 5 (car-destroying), but maybe they're being dramatic. So I added a Tinder-style swiping feature — you'd see photos of reported potholes and swipe to confirm or dispute the severity. "Yeah that's definitely a 5" or "nah, that's a 2 at best." Crowd-sourced accuracy. Fun to build.
Of course, there's an obvious problem with letting strangers upload photos to an app: what if someone submits... not a pothole? Content moderation is a nightmare. Thankfully, since I never planned to actually deploy this, I didn't have to solve that problem. One of the many benefits of building things just for fun.
To actually test it, Maddy and I spent an afternoon driving around Halifax cataloging every pothole we could find. We photographed dozens of them — some truly impressive craters — and compiled everything into a detailed report that we sent to the city. No intention of ever releasing the app, but the data was real. Our roads are bad. Now there's a record.
The Numbers
Road Damage Stats
The Experience
Swipe. Report. Track.
The app is designed to make reporting as frictionless as possible. One tap to use your current location, snap a photo, rate the severity, and submit. No forms, no bureaucracy.
Quick Report Flow
- Tap the camera button — GPS locks your location
- Snap a photo of the pothole (evidence!)
- Rate severity 1-5 (how much damage would this do?)
- Submit — goes to 311 and appears on the map
Status Tracking
Under the Hood
The Tech Stack
Frontend
- React Native + Expo — Cross-platform mobile development
- TypeScript — Type safety for the win
- React Navigation — Tab + stack navigation
- React Native Maps — Interactive map with markers
Backend
- Supabase — Auth, database, and real-time subscriptions
- Expo Location — GPS coordinates for reports
- Expo Image Picker — Photo capture and selection
- Expo Mail Composer — Direct 311 submissions
Features
Everything You Need to Report
Map View
Interactive map showing all reported potholes in Halifax with severity color coding.
Photo Reports
Snap a photo, add details, and submit. The app captures your exact GPS coordinates.
Severity Rating
Rate potholes 1-5 so the city knows which ones need immediate attention.
Direct to 311
Reports go straight to Halifax 311's email system. No middleman, just action.
Community Feed
See what your neighbors are reporting. Track status from reported → in progress → fixed.
Real-time Sync
Supabase backend keeps everyone's data in sync. See new reports as they happen.
The Point
Civic Tech That Actually Works
This was never about launching a startup or disrupting civic infrastructure or whatever. It was about learning. I wanted to get better at React Native. I wanted to play with custom map styling. I wanted to see if I could make a swipeable card interface feel good. Mission accomplished on all fronts.
The best part was the "field research" with Maddy. Driving around Halifax, stopping at every pothole, taking photos, arguing about severity ratings. It felt ridiculous and important at the same time. We compiled everything into a detailed report — GPS coordinates, photos, the whole thing — and actually sent it to the city.
Will they fix any of them? Honestly, probably not because of our report. But at least Pat got the app he wanted, I got to build something fun, and Maddy and I had a weird afternoon. That's a win. 🕳️
Brian Stever