Hub Map GH: Mapping Ghana's Tech Future with AI & Community

Ernest Essien — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 23:53:10 +0000

This is a submission for the DEV Weekend Challenge: Community

The Community

Ghana's tech ecosystem is vibrant and growing, but information about its hubs—co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators—is often fragmented across social media and outdated websites. Hub Map GH was built for the builders, entrepreneurs, and innovators in Ghana. It provides a central, real-time source of truth to help anyone find the physical space and community they need to launch their next big idea.

What I Built

I built a high-performance, real-time directory and map of the Ghanaian tech ecosystem.

Key Features:

🤖 Gemini-Powered AI Matching: Don't just browse—ask! Users can type natural language queries like "I'm a hardware founder in Kumasi looking for mentorship" and get ranked, relevant recommendations via Gemini Pro.
🤝 Community-Driven Growth: Anyone can suggest a new tech hub via a simple, geolocated form. These submissions enter a pending state until verified by an admin, ensuring the directory stays high-quality and collaborative.
🗺️ Searchable Ecosystem Map: Enhanced filters with real-time search and multi-select tags, making it effortless to navigate through dozens of hubs.
🔒 Secure Admin Console: A protected dashboard for ecosystem leads to verify community submissions, manage cities/tags, and execute batch-updates across the entire directory.
⚡ Proactive Sync & Caching: Multi-layer caching with cross-instance synchronization via Firestore ensures that any administrative change (like deleting or verifying a hub) is instantly reflected site-wide.
📱 Mobile & Native Share: Built for a mobile-first nation, including full responsiveness and Native Web Share API integration.

Demo

hubmapgh.vercel.app

Code

You can find the github repository here

How I Built It

The project leverages a modern, serverless stack designed for scale and zero cost:

Framework: Next.js 14 (App Router) for a lightning-fast frontend.
AI: Google Gemini Pro provides the natural language reasoning for the recommender, optimized for the ecosystem.
Database: Firebase Firestore handles real-time data sync, community submissions, and cross-server cache invalidation.
Auth: Firebase Auth secures the administrative backbone.
Styling: Tailwind CSS with a custom design system inspired by Ghana's national colors (Gold, Red, Green).
Icons/OG: Refined, minimalist branding assets generated to provide a premium look and feel.

Sustainability & Safety

I implemented IP-based usage tracking in Firestore to enforce a "3 matches per day" limit for AI requests, ensuring the platform remains free to the community while protecting against API abuse.

New Year, New You: The Void Alchemist Portfolio (Powered by Gemini)

Ernest Essien — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 08:05:32 +0000

This is a submission for the New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Presented by Google AI

About Me

Hi, I'm Ernest Kojo Owusu Essien, a software engineer specializing in backend systems and AI. I build systems that think. My goal for 2026 is to push the boundaries of web experiences by merging rigorous backend logic with immersive, cinematic frontend designs. I don't just build websites; I build digital artifacts.

Portfolio

View Live Portfolio - Cloud Run Link or My Domain

How I Built It

I didn't just want a static resume; I wanted a living, breathing digital space that I can manage and evolve without touching code for every content update.

The Stack

Framework: Next.js 14 (App Router) for performance, SEO, and server actions.
Styling: Tailwind CSS for a custom "Void Alchemist" design system.
Backend & Database: Firebase (Firestore & Auth). I moved beyond static data to a real-time database to manage my projects and messages.
Development Process: I used Antigravity by Google as my IDE, which was seamless in building the portfolio.
AI: Gemini 1.5 Flash via the Google AI SDK.
Deployment: Google Cloud Run via Docker containers for serverless scalability.

Key Features

AI Integration (The Brain): The "Void Alchemist" AI agent is powered by Gemini 1.5 Flash. It uses long-context injection to access documentation and portfolio data, allowing it to answer technical questions accurately, ensuring it never loses context or hallucinates due to missing fragments.
Admin Dashboard (The Control Room): I built a secured Admin Panel (/admin) using NextAuth and Firebase.
- Message Management: Contact form submissions are saved to Firestore and can be read/deleted directly from the dashboard.
- Dynamic Content: My projects and skills are managed via the dashboard, allowing me to update my portfolio instantly.
Immersive UI: Used Framer Motion for the particle network, floating sigils, and "atmosphere" layer to create a depth-of-field effect that feels premium and cinematic.
Dynamic Island Navigation: A responsive, app-like floating navigation bar that expands on mobile. It provides seamless access to the new /services ecosystem while maintaining the immersive aesthetic.

What I'm Most Proud Of

The Full-Stack Admin Ecosystem: I'm most proud of moving away from hardcoded JSON files. Building a full Admin Dashboard where I can see messages from recruiters and manage my project showcase makes this a true production-grade application, not just a static template.
The AI "Persona": Tuning the Gemini prompt was an art. It switches seamlessly between "Recruiter Mode" (concise, metrics) and "Dev Mode" (technical deep-dives), making it feel like a real extension of myself.
Cloud Run Deployment: Getting the Docker container optimized and deployed on Cloud Run was a seamless experience. The app scales down to zero when not in use, which is perfect for a portfolio.

What do you all think about it? Share your thoughts in the comments 😊

DEV Community: Ernest Essien

Hub Map GH: Mapping Ghana's Tech Future with AI & Community

The Community

What I Built

Demo

Code

How I Built It

Sustainability & Safety

New Year, New You: The Void Alchemist Portfolio (Powered by Gemini)

About Me

Portfolio

How I Built It

The Stack

Key Features

What I'm Most Proud Of