Google Summer of Code 2023 - Web UI for Visualization and Exploration

Kartik Gupta shares his experiences and achievements from participating in the Google Summer of Code 2023, where he worked on developing a web-based user interface for Qdrant, a vector search engine. The project aimed to create a user-friendly UI to facilitate data visualization and exploration, addressing the absence of such features in Qdrant. Gupta outlines the six milestones of his project, which included designing on Figma, building a layout, creating a view collection route, developing a data page with a "find similar" function, establishing a query editor page, and visualizing vector data points. Throughout this process, Gupta encountered various challenges that required learning new technologies and mastering project management, ultimately enhancing his skills in vector search, dimension reduction, and UI development. He emphasizes the importance of collaboration and effective communication with mentors in overcoming technical hurdles, such as optimizing performance using web workers and integrating console interactions. Reflecting on the journey, Gupta acknowledges areas for future improvement and expresses gratitude for the support from the Qdrant community, excited about the potential impact of the newly developed UI on users worldwide.