PYTHON APP FRAMEWORK

Trail Finder is a Python-based project designed to improve trip planning and safety for hiking, backpacking, and mountaineering by leveraging community-generated data. The project models a framework for a trail recommendation system where users can input detailed trail information—including distance, difficulty, location, ratings, and written reviews covering gear, weather, and seasonal conditions. Unlike existing trail apps, this system emphasizes preparation and safety by prioritizing qualitative experience data alongside quantitative trail attributes, enabling users to make more informed decisions before an expedition.

The core algorithm stores user-submitted trail data and filters recommendations based on a user’s desired difficulty, length, and rating, selecting the closest match through iterative comparison logic. Robust input validation and error handling ensure reliability when users provide invalid or extreme inputs, and multiple test cases were used to verify correct behavior under edge conditions. The project demonstrates how foundational Python programming concepts—functions, loops, data storage, and exception handling—can be applied to solve real-world problems, while highlighting the potential for future expansion into GPS integration, real-time trip logging, and broader community-driven safety and sustainability features

Figure 1: code blueprint

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