Needles

Background

The Needles is one of the four districts that make up Canyonlands National park.

The Needles district of Canyonlands National Park is known for its striking red and white sandstone spires, diverse hiking trails, and cultural significance, including ancestral Puebloan rock art and ruins. Popular attractions include Chesler Park, the Joint Trail, and Druid Arch. It offers opportunities for hiking, camping, photography, and stargazing, balancing accessibility with a remote wilderness experience.

Objectives

This version effectively builds upon the foundation laid by Version 1: Maze, focusing on transitioning the application from a monolithic structure to a microservices-based architecture.

The rearchitecture aims to enhance scalability and maintainability, while also introducing a few new features to improve functionality and user experience. This approach shows a clear emphasis on modernizing the application for long-term adaptability.

Technology Stack

• Front-End: Angular
• Back-End: Spring Boot (Java)
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Infrastructure: AWS
• Version Control: Git
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions
• Containerization: Docker and AWS ECS
• Monitoring: AWS CloudWatch and Elastic Stack
• Security: Keycloak
• Testing: JUnit, Mockito, and Postman
• Project Management: GitHub Projects
• Documentation: AsciiDoc, MDX and Astro Starlight

Features

Some highlighted features of this version include:

• Users overhaul
  • Social media platform for users
  • Private messages
  • User pages
  • User connections
  • User follows
  • Anonymous mode
• Forums
  • A forums section will be added to the application, in which users can discuss topics and create/maintain threads.
• Item Review Overhaul
  • Users can now review items, and it will show on the system library for all to see (once approved).