AppalLOCATE: A Lost And Found Solution

AppalLOCATE is a lost and found application currently in beta release to select offices at Appalachian State University. AppalLOCATE comprises three interconnected components of a mobile application, a web application, and a cloud-based storage container. Faculty, staff, and students can employ a user interface to report found items or search items found and reported by others. The application includes a contextualized search function, and incorporates a proximity algorithm to aid in item collection. Reported items can be tagged for easy discovery, GPS location is used to monitor how close a user is to an item, and mobile users can snap a picture of an item they found. This thesis describes the design and development decisions, and explains several expected use cases. Results from a small focus group are also presented.