Revise README for Trade Optimization Pathfinder project

Expanded the README to provide detailed information about the Trade Optimization Pathfinder (TOP) project, including its problem statement, solution, features, and technical implementation.

Author: TheJinius

README.md

@@ -1,4 +1,111 @@
-# CS203-Project
+# Trade Optimization Pathfinder (TOP)
+
+*An all in one Tariff Management Platform to streamline the process of calculating Tariffs and optimizing the trade routes between 2 or more countries*
+
+## 🌍 Problem Statement
+Design and implement a system called TARIFF (Trade Agreements Regulating Imports and Foreign Fees): its purpose is to define import tariffs (and/or additional fees) and to calculate them against a certain industry or product between different countries at any given times.
+
+## 💡 Our Solution
+**Trade Optimization Pathfinder (TOP)** is the perfect solution to tackle Trade Route Tariff Calculations and Management through our all in one optimizer platform that:
+* Provides clear **Trade Route Tariff Calculations**.
+* Enables admins to **manage Tariffs**.
+* Gives **route visualization** a bird’s-eye view for smarter coordination.
+
+## 🎯 Features
+
+### Baseline Tariff Calculation Process
+<img width="1089" height="1293" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3a2636c5-0ebe-4432-859d-668e9f5abbe0" />
+* Step 1: Enter source and destination countries to search for goods using HSCode or descriptions
+<img width="1174" height="1240" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5a4de1f6-6702-415f-a030-c35f7dbdfe7e" />
+* Step 2: System returns the tariff(s) available and user selects from the dropdown and enters quantity of product
+* Step 3: Select desired currency conversion and calculate the result
+
+## Exchange Rate Conversion
+Exchange rates are from ExchangeRateAPI, pulled every hour and stored in Redis, ensuring sped and scaleability without sacrificing accuracy in exchange rate conversions.
+
+## Explainable Calculation
+TOP breaks down calculation into step by step formula and displaying each step
+This not only gives users confidence about the correctness of the final tariff calculation but also help beginners learn about different tariffs and how they are calculated
+
+## Compliance Checklist
+<img width="969" height="791" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b454477a-000a-4f65-84b5-25b78d1360fb" />
+Offers users a list of checklist items to look out for after they perform a calculation. This includes items like Compliance declarations and Certification and classification requirements.
+Uses Pinecone and OpenAI for semantic search, with strict JSON output for frontend checklist visualisation.
+Checklist items are sourced from official reports of government websites and offer a direct source link from our app for users to verify the authenticity of the checklist item. 
+
+## Route Visualization
+<img width="1134" height="380" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/edd0eb3e-d2e7-4df7-a15d-7bd8c49e0870" />
+Gives 4 distinct routes: Each optimized for a certain aspect:
+
+*Risk: Risk of piracy/incidents occuring
+*Cost: Cheapest way to ship objects
+*Carbon Emissions: Most environmentally friendly route
+*Time: Fastest way to transport goods
+
+Each route also gives a breakdown of all 4 factors for more in depth comparisons
+
+### AI Chatbot
+<img width="1141" height="456" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8c4d19e7-ce33-419b-b960-98e8be3264d0" />
+Our chatbot uses a RAG system, when a user asks a question, the system doesn’t just generate an answer from the language model alone. Instead, it first checks our Pinecone vector database that stores reliable tariff data.
+
+Pinecone then returns the most relevant context back to GPT - for example, specific tariff definitions, regulatory notes, or documentation references.
+
+Using these together, GPT generates a final answer that is grounded in real data, rather than guessing. This ensures the chatbot’s responses are accurate, reliable, and source-backed.
+
+<img width="869" height="1221" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c1b91c86-e918-4ec3-989a-4213dac912c9" />
+Administrators can add new documents or update existing tariff information directly into Pinecone.
+
+### Results Tab
+This tab allows users to quickly build new routes, compare Tariffs and export results as a PDF
+
+## Multi-Leg Route Builder
+<img width="827" height="609" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5022f312-e24d-486f-b701-8c9741d8bbbc" />
+
+Users have the ability to combine multiple routes through multiple countries together for further cost optimization, to allow users to compare metrics for direct shipping versus multi-leg shipping routes as well.
+
+## Tariff comparator
+<img width="1077" height="403" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2b5c1a3a-c13e-4b7c-aa15-c61be1e0bb38" />
+Users are able to compare different tariffs between two different trade routes, and gives a breakdown on which is more optimal based on one of the 4 metrics:
+*Risk: Risk of piracy/incidents occuring
+*Cost: Cheapest way to ship objects
+*Carbon Emissions: Most environmentally friendly route
+*Time: Fastest way to transport goods
+We also provide some additional analytics as shown:
+<img width="761" height="97" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/23fe14a4-9315-4119-873e-dc0221e57612" />
+
+
+### Security
+<img width="904" height="630" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3a191a7b-7f74-4539-8d99-14e1ac63aa24" />
+Secured by AWS cognito, ensuring compliance with strict regulations and auditability as required by banks.
+Designed with strict least privilege access principles, with 2 distinct user groups: Users and Admins.
+## Users: 
+Allowed to use the Tariff Calculation Features, Results tab and AI Chatbot
+## Admins: 
+Are allowed to use anything the Users have accessed to, as well as Tariff Management page
+
+## Tariff Management
+A page that only Admins are able to access
+It has the following functionalities:
+*Add Tariff/Delete Tariff: 
+Due to frequently changing regulations, admins have the authority to update the system to stay compliant even outside of the regularly updated intervals.
+
+*Edit Tariff: 
+Any mistakes in tariff entries can be rectified without having to recreate the entire database and without developer intervention
+
+*Adding Information to Chatbot:
+Able to modify the compliance documents that is used as context for the AI chatbot
+
+
+
+## 🛠️ Technical Implementation
+
+* **Frontend:** React, TypeScript (map visualisation via Mapbox).
+* **Backend:** Java (Spring Boot), Python.
+* **Databases:** PostgreSQL, Neo4J, Pinecone, Redis.
+* **Deployment:** Vercel (Frontend), AWS EC2 (Backend).
+
+
+# To Run Locally
 
 ## 1. Project Setup Instructions