Maciej Sachse
/work/cityquest

/06 — 2025

CityQuest · Sopot 3D

Sightseeing as narrative, not checklist. Live social-media signals become intelligent Quest Points; an AI personalisation engine sequences them into a journey tailored to your profile and the city's real-time rhythm — an analytical constellation in the Industry 4.0 spirit.

role
Hackathon team — concept, data layers, UI
location
Gdańsk, Poland · pilot city: Sopot
org
StartupHack — Gdański Park Naukowo-Technologiczny
tools
React · Vite · MapLibre GL JS · OpenFreeMap / OpenMapTiles · Apify (Google Popular Times, Facebook, TripAdvisor) · Foursquare · Vercel
Live StartupHack prototype — 3D Sopot map · six data sources · crowd heatmap on a 24-hour slider · city quests by vibe and length

Overview

Is sightseeing just about checking boxes on a map? At StartupHack in Gdański Park Naukowo-Technologiczny we decided to challenge traditional tourism. The destination isn't the only goal — the true experience lies in the theme, the sequence of events, and the entire journey in between the points.

CityQuest works as an analytical constellation. Social-media scraping analyses real-time signals — crowd density, trending activity, attraction quality — to define intelligent Quest Points. An AI personalisation engine then links these points into a coherent path tailored to your profile and current needs, turning a static POI list into a dynamic scenario that adapts to the city's rhythm as it changes hour by hour.

The canonical example is a perfect date. The system doesn't just point you to a restaurant. It designs a cohesive roadmap where every step flows into the next — building atmosphere, dodging the crowd at peak hours, catching a viral spot at exactly the right moment. The future of urban exploration isn't more information; it's a narrative tailored to the individual.

CityQuest — full interface: 3D Sopot map, six data-source legend, filters for types and quest categories
CityQuest — full interface: 3D Sopot map, six data-source legend, filters for types and quest categories
3D map of Sopot with the side panel collapsed — OpenStreetMap buildings via MapLibre GL JS
3D map of Sopot with the side panel collapsed — OpenStreetMap buildings via MapLibre GL JS

The solution — an analytical constellation for the city

A web app that takes stated user needs and turns them into a real-time itinerary. Tell it you're a Swedish tourist on a weekend, you want local cuisine, WWII history and the best nightlife — it composes a plan that says where to go, when to be there, and how busy each stop will be.

  • Live data constellation

    Google Popular Times, Facebook events, TripAdvisor reviews, Foursquare check-ins, Instagram + Wikimedia geo-tags and community check-ins — six sources unified behind one legend, each toggleable independently as a coloured dot on a 3D map.

  • AI personalisation engine

    Profile + stated needs + live signals → a sequenced Quest. Atmosphere, tempo, crowd level and theme are all part of the path the algorithm composes, not just the endpoints.

Live prototype

The interactive 3D map lives at city-quest-theta.vercel.app — Sopot as the pilot city, six data layers, a crowd heatmap on a 24-hour slider, and city quests tagged by vibe and length. Every module ships with seeded mock data so the app runs end-to-end on any laptop with zero API keys; swapping mock → live is a single env-var flip.

Live demo

Try the interactive prototype in your browser.

Open live demo →

Team

  • Maciej SachseMSc Architecture, TU Delft
  • Jan SachseAI specialist at Asseco
  • Filip BieszkeCo-creator — StartupHack