Multi-Destination Location Search

When I’m running errands, I usually have to plan a driving route that involves multiple destinations. This is no big deal if I only need groceries and a haircut. (Believe it or not, I don’t even need to use an app for that!) But it becomes trickier if I need to take care of less-common tasks like dry cleaning and Thai takeout (although dry cleaning usually comes after Thai food in my experience).

Searching for one destination at a time works great on Google Maps. It’ll find me the closest, highest-rated, cheapest, most environmentally-friendly dry cleaner around. Too bad it’s in the complete opposite direction of the nearest Thai joint. Womp womp.

What would be really great is if I could search for a dry cleaner and Thai restaurant that are near each other. Maybe not the closest overall for each, but with the least total driving (or walking) time. That would save me a lot of anxiety deciding whether to turn left or right out of my neighborhood. #FirstWorldProblems.

The Project

Build a location search application that lets me specify two separate search queries (e.g. “dry cleaning” and “Thai food”) and returns a list of results with locations near each other (one dry cleaner matched with on Thai restaurant). By default, the matches should be sorted by the total round-trip travel time from here to Point A to Point B and back.

At a minimum, your app should be location-aware (don’t make me type in a zip code or some nonsense) and fat finger mobile-friendly (because, duh). For the raw data, you’d probably be able to leverage the APIs provided by some of the existing big players in the space like Google Maps, Yelp, and Foursquare.

Bonus Points

Including all the usual information from old-school local search results like ratings and reviews will let me make the tradeoff between high-quality dry cleaning and high-quality Thai food. Is it worth taking a chance on that sketchy restaurant? It’s right next door to the best dry cleaner in town!