The coronavirus emergency has put a strain on society on many levels, due to many countries imposing lockdowns that allow people to exit their homes only for essential needs, and enforcing strict rules even when people are justified in going out (such as limiting the number of accesses to buildings and keeping a distance of at least one meter between people). In particular, grocery shopping---one of the most essential needs---can become a challenge in the presence of such strict rules. Indeed, supermarkets need to restrict access to their stores to avoid having crowds inside, which typically results in long lines forming outside, which are themselves a source of hazards. In these trying times, people turn to technology, and in particular to software applications, to help navigate the challenges created by the imposed restrictions. The application would work as a digital counterpart to the common situation where people who are in line for a service retrieve a number that gives their position in the queue. Naturally, physically retrieving a number forces people to first approach the building, and then wait in close proximity (though not in a line) until their number is called, which is a less than ideal situation in a lockdown situation. A software application, instead, could provide many improvements to this situation.
The goal of this project is to develop an easy-to-use application that, on the one side, allows store managers to regulate the influx of people in the building and, on the other side, saves people from having to line up and stand outside of stores for hours on end.