Lingyi Zhou
Portfolio Website
 All My Works

Ex. AR Engineer @ Snap Inc.
Ex. Unity Engineer @ Unity

MFA Design and Technology @ Parsons
MA Game Design & Development @ Columbia XR Developer
AR Development in Lens Studio & Effect House.
VR Development in Unity for Oculus Quest and Apple Vision Pro Game Developer
Unity Development for desktop and mobile games
Shader knowledge and development experience 3D Designer
Blender and Maya for stylized and realistic modeling and rendering  
Cinema4D for animation and procedural modelling  
 Full Stack Engineer
React front end + FastAPI Backend + Postgre database Graphic Designer
Adobe Indesign, Adobe Illustrator

Hardware Store Search Tool

A modern web application that helps users find hardware stores near any location using Google Maps API. Built with a React frontend and FastAPI backend, deployed on GitHub Pages and Railway with PostgreSQL database integration.

Live App | GitHub Repo

Tech Stack

  • Frontend: React, Leaflet, CSS, GitHub Pages
  • Backend: FastAPI, SQLAlchemy, Google Maps API, Railway
  • Database: PostgreSQL
  • Languages: JavaScript, Python
  • Client: James Hardware
Version 3.0 Demo Video   

Key Features

  • Smart Search: Location-based lookup with real-time store results
  • Deduplication: Filter repeated stores like "Home Depot"
  • Intelligent Caching: Cache results for 1 month to improve speed
  • Bulk Search: Drop a pin, select a radius, get stores live in real-time
  • AI Integration: Generate company analysis and cold emails using Perplexity API
  • Streaming Support: Streaming bulk results within selected map radius
  • Responsive UI: Works beautifully across devices, with smooth animations and error states
  • Analytics: Track most searched cities, search frequency, and cache hit rates
 Version 1.0 Demo Video   

System Architecture

Store Search Flow

  • User enters a location
  • Frontend sends a request to FastAPI backend
  • Backend geocodes the address, calls Google Places API
  • Results streamed live to frontend with progress bar
  • Results are cached and saved to PostgreSQL for faster future queries

AI Analysis & Email Flow

  • User clicks "Analyze Company" → Calls backend with store details
  • Backend uses Perplexity API to analyze and return strategic insights
  • User can generate a cold email draft customized to that store
  • Fallback to templates if AI is unavailable

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