Hackathon prototype
Walk This Way was built for the 2013 DEP Hackathon hosted by the Dallas Regional Chamber in June 2013, while Dr. Costilla Reyes was a graduate student at the University of North Texas. A hackathon is a short, intensive event in which teams turn an idea into a working prototype; the Walk This Way proof of concept placed second. His records list the project through May 2014, the end of his master’s program.
The walkable-route concept
Walkability describes how safe, comfortable, and pleasant an area is to travel on foot. Walk This Way treated a walking route as more than the shortest line between two points. The application mapped routes between two places according to criteria the user selected, including safety, shade during the day, light at night, and architecture, and it was conceived for both Android and iOS. Criteria such as shade and lighting affect how comfortable and safe a walk feels at different times of day. The team photograph shows the early brainstorming stage at the event, with idea sheets taped to office windows overlooking the downtown skyline.
Context at the University of North Texas
Around the same time as Walk This Way, Dr. Costilla Reyes was active in other university roles: he served on the student advisory board of UNT’s Innovation Greenhouse, which promoted entrepreneurship and innovation among students, and from January 2014 he was vice president of the Mexican Talent Network Dallas chapter.