CO2 Emission Tracker

A comprehensive iOS application developed as part of an interdisciplinary project between the Media University Stuttgart and Porsche AG. The app encourages sustainable transportation choices among Porsche employees by making them aware of their daily carbon footprint. It automatically detects commutes and business trips, calculates CO₂ emissions, and translates them into a gamified point system.

Screenshots

Key Features

• Automatic Trip Tracking: Uses CoreLocation and CoreMotion to detect, record, and classify trips in the background with minimal battery impact.
• CO₂ Emission Calculation: Calculates emissions based on distance and detected mode of transport (walking, cycling, car, train).
• Gamification Engine: A points system rewards sustainable choices; users can join time-based challenges (e.g. "cycle 50 km in a week") for bonus points.
• Interactive Leaderboards: Rankings for individuals and teams (departments) to foster friendly competition.
• Detailed Trip History: A comprehensive log with map views, distances, and calculated emissions.
• Business vs. Private Classification: A swipe interface lets users classify trips so only relevant business travel counts toward official metrics.

Technical Highlights

The UI was built natively with SwiftUI, Apple's declarative framework, integrated with MapKit for interactive maps. CloudKit was chosen as the backend-as-a-service, handling all data persistence and synchronisation (users, trips, teams, challenges) without managing separate server infrastructure. The app uses background entitlements for CoreLocation and CoreMotion to enable passive tracking.

Outcome

A client-driven project developed in collaboration with Porsche AG, translating real business requirements into a polished native iOS application. Key learnings included background location tracking, efficient battery management, CloudKit data modelling, and working within a corporate project context.