🚀 Introducing ShirazGard: An Open-Source, Bilingual City Guide for Shiraz, Iran 🇮🇷

#android #kotlin #java #mobile

Hi devs! 👋

I’m excited to share my latest project: ShirazGard, an open-source Android app designed to help both tourists and locals explore the beautiful city of Shiraz, Iran.

🌟 Why ShirazGard?

Most city guide apps for Iran are either outdated, lack bilingual support, or don’t offer a modern user experience. I wanted to build something that’s not only useful for travelers, but also a showcase of clean Kotlin code, MVVM architecture, and modern Android development best practices.

✨ Key Features

Comprehensive POI Database: 8 essential categories (historical sites, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, gas stations, parking, cultural centers, public toilets)
Rich Details: High-quality photos, GPS coordinates, user-generated tips, accessibility info
Smart Navigation: One-tap directions (Google Maps/Waze/Snap integration)
Bilingual Support: Instant language switching (English/Farsi)
Social Features: Ratings, reviews, favorites, user profiles with avatars
Personalized Experience: Dark/Light mode, favorites, custom profiles

🛠️ Tech Stack

Kotlin, MVVM architecture
Back4App (Parse) as backend
Retrofit, Hilt, Coroutines, DataStore, Glide, Lottie, OsmDroid, Lingver and more

🗃️ Database

NoSQL document-based structure (Back4App)
Collections for Places, Comments, Photos, Favorites
Bilingual fields for all text data

👨‍💻 Why Open Source?

I believe in giving back to the dev community and making tools that can be forked, improved, or even adapted for other cities. All code is available under the Apache 2.0 license.