Campus Walker — Hybrid AR Navigation System for Indoor/Outdoor Campus Wayfinding

Campus Walker is a full-stack campus navigation platform that combines:

Visitor onboarding and destination selection
Role-based admin dashboards (Super Admin, University Admin, Institute Admin)
Outdoor AR navigation using device sensors + map data
Indoor navigation management (building points + paths)
Analytics dashboards for visitor movement and traffic

It is designed for multi-university/multi-institute deployments where each level can manage its own campus data while preserving centralized oversight.

Key Features

Visitor Experience

Public visitor form (/) to register/check in.
Destination-based routing support.
Real-time outdoor AR navigation view with directional arrows and compass cues.

Outdoor Navigation

Outdoor AR scene in frontend/public/navigation.html.
Map-assisted coordinate selection and visibility toggle.
Sensor-driven heading updates and navigation state indicators.

Indoor Navigation

Indoor AR page in frontend/public/indoor.html.
Institute-level indoor location and path management.
Building-specific path graph support for route rendering.

Admin Dashboards

Super Admin: manage universities, admins, system-wide visitors, and global stats.
University Admin: manage institutes, university visitor data, and location sets.
Institute Admin: manage locations, routes, and indoor navigation entities.

Analytics

Date-wise and entity-wise visitor charts.
Tabular records with filtering and actions.

Tech Stack

Frontend

React 18 + Vite
Tailwind CSS
React Router
Chart.js / Recharts
Leaflet / React-Leaflet
A-Frame + aframe-ar

Backend

Node.js + Express
MongoDB + Mongoose
JWT auth
Multer + Cloudinary/local uploads
CORS-enabled REST APIs

Architecture Overview

[Visitor/Admin Browser]
        |
        v
[React Frontend + Static AR HTML Pages]
        |
        v
[Express API Layer]
  |   |   |   |
  |   |   |   +--> Auth
  |   |   +------> Visitor + Navigation
  |   +----------> University/Institute/Admin Ops
  +--------------> Indoor Navigation Ops
        |
        v
[MongoDB]

Main Runtime Paths

Frontend app routes are controlled in frontend/src/App.jsx.
Static AR pages are served from frontend/public/navigation.html and frontend/public/indoor.html.
Backend API entrypoint is backend/server.js.

User Roles & Responsibilities

1) Super Admin

Create and manage universities.
Create university/super admins.
Monitor system-wide visitors and distributions.

2) University Admin

Create and manage institutes under a university.
Track university-level visitor analytics.
Manage university scoped location data.

3) Institute Admin

Add/edit/delete locations.
Create route/path records between locations.
Configure indoor navigation (locations + path graph).

4) Visitor

Register via public form.
Select source/destination.
Launch AR navigation guidance.

Project Structure

campus-walker/
├── README.md
├── backend/
│   ├── server.js
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── uploads/
│   └── src/
│       ├── config/
│       ├── controllers/
│       ├── middleware/
│       ├── models/
│       ├── routes/
│       └── utils/
└── frontend/
    ├── package.json
    ├── public/
    │   ├── navigation.html
    │   ├── indoor.html
    │   └── assets/
    └── src/
        ├── App.jsx
        ├── pages/
        ├── components/admin/
        └── utils/

Screenshots

You shared strong UI references; below is the recommended placement for a polished README gallery.

How to use this section:

Create docs/images/.

Save your provided screenshots with the suggested names below.

Keep/replace the markdown links as needed.

1) Location Coordinate Picker (Map)

Great for showing route/location setup workflow.

2) Outdoor AR Navigation (Mobile View)

Best for demonstrating real-world guidance UI.

3) Route Creation Form

Use this to explain route authoring for institute admins.

Getting Started (Local Development)

1) Prerequisites

Node.js 18+
npm 9+
MongoDB 6+
Git

2) Clone

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd campus-walker

3) Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install
cp .env.example .env   # if you maintain an example file

If there is no .env.example, create .env manually (see Environment Variables).

Run backend:

npm run dev

Backend default target: http://localhost:5000

4) Frontend Setup

cd ../frontend
npm install

Create .env:

VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5000/api

Run frontend:

npm run dev

Frontend default target: http://localhost:5173

Environment Variables

Backend (`backend/.env`)

PORT=5000
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/ar_nav_db
JWT_SECRET=replace_with_a_strong_secret
JWT_EXPIRE=30d
NODE_ENV=development
CORS_ORIGINS=http://localhost:5173,http://localhost:3000
BASE_URL=http://localhost:5000

# Optional Cloudinary (if enabled in your deployment)
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=

Frontend (`frontend/.env`)

VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5000/api

Important Static AR URL Check

The static AR pages may contain explicit API URLs. Verify/update these to match deployment:

frontend/public/navigation.html
frontend/public/indoor.html

Run, Build, and Deploy

Development

Backend:

cd backend
npm run dev

Frontend:

cd frontend
npm run dev

Production Build (Frontend)

cd frontend
npm run build
npm run preview

Production Run (Backend)

cd backend
npm start

Deployment Checklist

MongoDB connection is reachable from server runtime.
CORS_ORIGINS includes your frontend domain.
VITE_API_URL points to deployed backend /api.
navigation.html and indoor.html API references are updated.
Upload directories or cloud media storage are configured.

API Modules (High-Level)

Based on route mounting in backend server:

/api/auth — authentication
/api/super-admin — super admin operations
/api/university — university-level operations
/api/institute — institute-level operations
/api/visitors — visitor intake and management
/api/public/universities — public university listing
/api/navigation — outdoor navigation endpoints
/api/indoor — indoor navigation endpoints

Operational Notes

Uploaded media is served via /uploads in backend runtime.
Admin dashboard access is route-protected using role-based checks.
For accurate AR navigation on mobile devices, ensure:
- Location permissions are granted
- Compass/motion access is enabled
- HTTPS is used in production (recommended/required for sensor APIs on many devices)

Troubleshooting

Frontend cannot reach backend

Verify backend is running on the expected port.
Check VITE_API_URL value.
Ensure backend CORS includes frontend origin.

AR screen shows but no direction updates

Confirm location + motion permissions on device.
Test outdoors for stronger GPS signal.
Verify destination coordinates are valid.

Login works but dashboard data is empty

Check seeded/created admin data by role.
Inspect browser network panel for 401/403/500 responses.
Validate JWT token presence and expiration.

Future Improvements

Add Docker Compose for one-command local startup.
Add API schema docs (OpenAPI/Swagger).
Add seed scripts for demo data.
Add automated tests (backend unit/integration + frontend component tests).
Add CI pipeline (lint, build, tests).

License

Add your project license here (MIT/Apache-2.0/Proprietary).

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 62 Commits
backend		backend
docs/images		docs/images
frontend		frontend
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md

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