🏠 NearBy – Student Housing & Local Services Platform

NearBy is a student-centric web platform built to simplify the process of finding rental rooms, PGs, hostels, and essential local services in a new city.
The platform eliminates broker dependency and connects students, property owners, and local service providers directly in a trusted, user-friendly environment.

�️ Architecture Diagram

graph TD
    A[User] --> B[Web Browser]
    B --> C[PHP Application Server]
    C --> D[MySQL Database]
    C --> E[Google Maps API]
    C --> F[Gemini AI API]
    C --> G[Firebase Services]
    
    subgraph "Frontend"
        B1[HTML/CSS/JS]
        B2[Bootstrap 5.3]
        B3[AJAX]
    end
    
    subgraph "Backend"
        C1[PHP Controllers]
        C2[API Endpoints]
        C3[Authentication]
    end
    
    subgraph "Database"
        D1[User Data]
        D2[Listings]
        D3[Chat History]
    end
    
    B --> B1
    B1 --> C
    C --> C1
    C1 --> D
    D --> D1

�🌟 Problem Statement

When students move to a new city for education, they often face challenges such as:

Difficulty finding safe and affordable accommodation
High brokerage charges
Unreliable listings and lack of trust
No single platform for daily local services (food, milk, gas, etc.)
Feeling lost without local guidance

✅ Solution – NearBy

NearBy solves these problems by providing:

Verified accommodation listings near campuses
Direct communication with owners and service providers
Local guidance for food, transport, and daily needs
AI-powered chatbot support
A modern, clean, and mobile-friendly interface

The platform is designed by students, for students, keeping real-life needs in mind.

✨ Features 🏡 Accommodation Discovery

Browse PGs, rooms, flats, and hostels

Student-focused listings near campuses

Advanced filters:

Location

Rent range

Accommodation type

Gender preference (Male / Female / Family)

Facilities (Wi-Fi, Food, Parking, Water, Electricity, CCTV, Power Backup)

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Multi-Role User System

Supports multiple user roles:

Students

Property Owners

Local Service Providers

Dedicated dashboards for each role

Role-based access and functionality

🏠 Property & Listing Management

Property owners can:

Add new accommodation listings

Edit and manage their listings

Service providers can:

Add and manage local service listings

Listings update in real time for users

🧺 Local Services Directory

Discover essential local services:

Tiffin / Mess services

Milk (Doodh) providers

Gas suppliers

Vegetable (Sabji) vendors

Other daily-need services

Everything accessible from one platform

🤖 AI-Powered Chatbot Assistance

Integrated AI chatbot (Gemini AI)

Available on:

Home page

Search page

User dashboards

Provides:

Accommodation and service guidance

Local help and suggestions

Student-friendly Q&A

Login-based access control

Secure chat history storage

Works on both local and live servers

📍 Local Guidance & Discovery

Helps students find:

Nearby food options

Transport information

Hospitals and essential shops

Acts as a digital local guide for new students

🔐 Authentication & Security

Secure login and authentication system

Role-based access control

Guest users can:

View listings

View chatbot interface (login required to interact)

Clean session and backend handling

📱 Responsive & Modern UI

Fully responsive across all devices

Clean, modern, and student-friendly design

Glassmorphism UI with a light green theme

🌐 Map & Location Integration

Location-based discovery of rooms and services

Map API integration for better navigation

⚡ Performance & Usability

AJAX-based interactions for faster performance

Smooth and intuitive user experience

Minimal and easy-to-navigate interface

🌐 Live Project

🔗 Website: https://sumitrathor.rf.gd/nearby/
🔗 GitHub Repository: https://github.com/sumitrathor1/nearby

🌐 Flow Diagram

🧩 Core Features

🏡 Accommodation Search

PG, Flat, Room, Hostel listings
Advanced filters:
- Location
- Rent range
- Accommodation type
- Allowed for (Male / Female / Family)
- Facilities (Wi-Fi, Food, Parking, Water, Electricity, CCTV, Power Backup)

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Multi-Role User System

Users on NearBy can be:

Students (Juniors and Seniors)
Home / Room Owners
Local Service Providers:
- Tiffin / Mess services
- Milk (Doodh) providers
- Gas suppliers
- Vegetable (Sabji) vendors
- Other daily-need services

Each role can create and manage their own listings.

🤖 AI Chatbot Assistance

Available on:
- Home Page
- Search Page
- Junior & Senior Dashboards
Login-based access control
Features:
- Room and service guidance
- Local help suggestions
- Student-friendly Q&A
Chat history stored securely
Works seamlessly on local and live servers

📍 Local Guidance

Nearby food options
Transport information
Hospitals, shops, and essential services
Helps new students settle quickly and confidently

🔐 Authentication & Security

Secure login system
Role-based access
Guest users can view chatbot but must login to use it
Clean session and backend handling

📸 Screenshots

Home Page

Listings Page

Local Services

🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

HTML5 - Semantic markup
CSS3 - Custom styling with Glassmorphism UI
Bootstrap 5.3 - Responsive framework
JavaScript (ES6) - Interactive functionality

Backend

PHP - Server-side logic
MySQL (MySQLi) - Database management
AJAX - Asynchronous data loading

Integrations

Google APIs - Maps and authentication
Gemini AI - Chatbot functionality
Firebase - Additional services

📂 Project Folder Structure

nearby/ │ ├── .github/ # GitHub workflows and configuration ├── admin/ # Admin dashboard and management files ├── api/ # API endpoints (AJAX handlers, data fetch logic) ├── assets/ # Static resources (CSS, JS, images) ├── config/ # Application configuration files ├── controllers/ # Business logic and request handling ├── database/ # Database connection and schema files ├── docs/ # Additional project documentation ├── includes/ # Reusable components (header, footer, modals) ├── private/ # Internal application files │ ├── index.php # Homepage ├── search.php # Accommodation search page ├── details.php # Listing details page ├── login.php # User login ├── register.php # User registration ├── junior-dashboard.php # Junior user dashboard ├── senior-dashboard.php # Senior user dashboard ├── second-hand-products.php # Marketplace page ├── feedback.php # Feedback form page ├── contact.php # Contact form page ├── faq.php # FAQ page ├── privacy.php # Privacy policy ├── terms.php # Terms of use │ └── README.md # Project documentation

🚀 Future Enhancements

💡 Key Benefits

✅ No brokerage fees
✅ Student-friendly platform
✅ Trusted & direct connections
✅ AI-powered assistance
✅ Local services in one place
✅ Fully responsive design
✅ Easy to scale and extend

👥 Contributors

We appreciate all contributors who have helped make NearBy better!

Name	GitHub	LinkedIn	Role
Sumit Rathor	@sumitrathor1	LinkedIn	Project Lead & Developer
Rana Pooja	@RANAPOOJA321	LinkedIn	UI/UX Designer & Contributor
[Your Name]	@yourusername	LinkedIn	Contributor

Want to contribute? See our Contributing Guidelines and join the team!

📄 License

This project is currently under development and learning phase.
Licensing and commercial usage terms will be defined in future releases.

🙌 Acknowledgements

Thanks to:

Open-source community for the amazing tools and libraries
Student testers and feedback providers for valuable insights
Mentors and peers who contributed ideas and reviews
Elite Coders program for the opportunity to collaborate

NearBy – Helping students find a place and feel at home. 🌟

Live Demo Status

The live demo hosted at:

https://sumitrathor.rf.gd/nearby/

may currently return a 502 Bad Gateway error or connection timeout due to hosting server limitations.

The project itself works correctly when run locally.

Running the Project Locally

Install XAMPP
Clone the repository
Move the project folder into the htdocs directory
Start Apache and MySQL from the XAMPP Control Panel
Open the following URL in your browser:

http://localhost/nearby/

Running the project locally allows contributors to test features even if the live demo is temporarily unavailable.

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