The Pitt Smart Living Project team has launched a crowdsourcing website to help people in the Pittsburgh area shop for essential items during the pandemic.

The website allows users to search for a store on a map and view information about how busy the store is at any time of day, or even on a different day, with data provided by Google. Users can also find and contribute information about which items are in or out of stock, such as toilet paper, eggs and paper towels. They can also search for an essential product and see a map of all locations that have that item in stock.

“Our goal is to make everyone’s lives a bit easier during the pandemic and help flatten the curve,” said Alexandros Labrinidis, project leader and chair of the Department of Computer Science in the School of Computing and Information (SCI). “We hope that the site will help unnecessary trips to the grocery store, and ultimately keep essential workers and our neighbors safe.”

Along with Labridinis, the project team also includes Kristi Bushman and Konstantinos Pelechrinis (SCI), Sera Linardi and Robizon Khubulashvili (Graduate School of Public and International Affairs) and Mallory Avery (Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences).