Terra is a tech startup based in London which aims to provide developers with an easier way to access their users’ wearable data across multiple platforms. They have raised $2.8 million in funding since their foundation at the start of 2021. Their goal is to integrate with as many sources as possible to remove the tedium of doing so for other developers reducing the connection point for user-data to one.
The Terra API connects with a wide range of fitness and health wearables / sensors to unify the format that data provided by various sources comes in. Users must authenticate their accounts via Terra which then allows developers to request their data on demand from the authorised source. They provide different data models such as sleep, nutrition, and menstruation that are common between wearables which ensures developers only have to deal with one format. There are also regular webhook updates, meaning developers receive frequent notice of their users’ activity without having to prompt Terra. The API offers a simple interface to a complex problem and provides security as all ‘Data is anonymous, never stored, and securely transferred using HMAC payload integrity verification’
We were responsible for the creation of a dashboard which showcases an example use of the TerraAPI which they could then show to potential customers / interested parties to demonstrate their product. In this sense, we were taking on the role of developers who would integrate with the API to display a person’s health and fitness data. The dashboard needed to be aesthetically pleasing and accessible to the average person while visualising their data in the form of various graphs, charts, and diagrams. Futhermore, we wanted to explore any correlations between data sets, and discover trends which we can display. Initially we needed to create a webapp that can be transformed into something mobile friendly later.