PraiaFinder

Find the perfect beach in Portugal, every time.

📌 Project Overview

PraiaFinder is a real-time beach recommendation engine that solves the "where should we go?" problem. Instead of drowning users in raw meteorological data (knots, swell period, etc.), it aggregates complex forecasts into a simple 0-10 score based on your intent.

Context-Aware Scoring

The core innovation is an algorithm that changes based on what you want to do:

• 🏄 for Surfers: High waves and strong offshore winds = High Score.
• 🏖️ for Families: Calm waters, low wind, and warm temps = High Score.

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🛠️ Tech Stack & Architecture

Frontend (User Experience)

• Next.js 14 (App Router): Server-side rendering for instant loads.
• Tailwind CSS: Fully responsive, mobile-first design.
• Framer Motion: Fluid animations for a premium feel.

Backend (Logic & Data)

• FastAPI (Python): High-performance async API.
• Custom ETL Pipeline:
  • Concurrent Fetching: Uses asyncio to query hundreds of beaches simultaneously without rate limits.
  • Smart Classification: Automatically detects if a beach is "Ocean" or "River" to apply the correct weather model.
  • Caching: Minimizes external API calls for speed and cost efficiency.

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✨ Key Features

1. Interactive Coast Map: Visualizes conditions across the entire Portuguese coastline.
2. Smart Search: Filter by region, score, or specific beach features.
3. Resilient System: Handles external API failures gracefully with retries and fallbacks.

🚀 Why I Built This

Living in Portugal, the weather varies drastically just a few kilometers apart. This project allowed me to solve a real-world problem while exploring advanced Python concurrency and building a polished React application.