Government Technology

    Digital Communities
    Industry Members

  • Click sponsor logos for whitepapers, case studies, and best practices.
  • McAfee
  • Net App
  • Perceptive Software

Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty Announces Winners of Applications for Democracy Contest



November 13, 2008 By

Washington, D.C. Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra

 

Today District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra announced the winners of the District's "Applications for Democracy" technology contest. The contest launched on October 14, 2008, invited software developers to compete for the best new applications to make DC government data more accessible and useful for the public.

"My administration is committed to making government more accessible and more transparent, and through this contest we've gotten help from the most talented developers," said Fenty. "I'm delighted with the responses. With these innovative applications, we can put government literally in the hands of the people."

The competition, open to the general public, asked developers to create mashup applications (a Web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool) for the district's data using popular consumer technologies like the iPhone, Facebook, Google Maps and others. Contest entries were required to use open source programming. Entries were judged by an appointed jury based on criteria including usefulness to citizens, usefulness to government, and originality.

The district collects and maintains vast stores of data on every aspect of government operations, from government contracts to crime statistics to economic development and much more. The district has already organized and published this data in a real-time data catalog with more than 200 data feeds. Applications for Democracy solicited the best and most cost-effective ways to package and present this data for easy viewing, analysis, and repurposing by the public.

The contest attracted more than 25 innovative applications, all licensed as open source and freely available to government and the public. Gold and silver contest winners include:

Gold Prize Winners:

1. Application: DC Historic Tours -- a slick Google Maps mashup that combines custom walking tour creation with Flickr photo feeds and Wikipedia entries. Users can click through to create a custom map, save it and reference it later when they're ready to tour the city.

Agency-Boalt Interactive

2. Application: iLive.at -- presents users with information tailored to that exact location, cleanly organized into categories. The "Errands" category indicates how far the nearest shopping center, post office and convenience store are, among other things. "Crime" tabulates recently reported offenses in the area, and "The People" displays colorful pie charts giving demographic information. Users can also click on a category and the relevant items will be plotted on a map of their neighborhood.

Independent Developers: Travis Hurant, Tim Koelkebeck and Brian Sobel.

Silver Prize Winners (6):

1. Application: Park It -- an application that allows you to check a specific area in the District for parking information. Allows users to check parking information before leaving the house and to see which streets are available for parking. Users can also check which meters cost money and which are free. Park It DC will even help users find out if they're parking in a residential parking permit zone!

Independent Developer: Shaun Farrell

2. Application: Where's My Money, DC? -- a forum based Facebook application that encourages users to discuss procurements made by the DC government.

Independent Developer: Keith Bradner

3. Application: DC Crime Finder -- Determines the user's location and will return specific instances of various crimes based on a one-, two- or three-mile radius.

Independent Developer: Mark Headd

4. Application: Stumble Safely -- an online application that helps users find the best bars and a safe path to stumble home on.

Agency: Development Seed

5. Application: Point About -- a realtime, location-aware DC


| More

Comments


Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

In Our Library

White Papers | Exclusives Reports | Webinar Archives | Best Practices and Case Studies
Living in a Smart City: Chattanooga, TN
The only one Gigabit broadband service in the United States for residential and business customers is now available citywide in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Let's meet people who live and work in one of the smartest city: what services do they embrace today, what is their vision for the future, and what kind of culture do they think makes this all possible and what's their definition of a smart city.
Creating Your Smart Grid: A How-To Guide
The smart grid promises to bring unprecedented opportunities for both utilities and consumers, improving safety, reliability, efficiency and security. The latest communications technologies will greatly improve awareness of grid conditions – in real time – for better control, management and decision-making.
WHITEPAPER: D Block Spectrum Act and the FirstNet Broadband Network. What does it all mean?
On Feb 22, 2012, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 was enacted into law. This law will ensure the establishment of a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network in every state and territory in the U.S. Learn about the new law and what you can do to prepare for it now.
View All

Digital Communities members get access to our collaboration task forces

427 Members

77 Discussions

84 Files

Latest members Become a member

Digital Communities members get access to our collaboration task forces

669 Members

145 Discussions

150 Files

Latest members Become a member

 


Featured White Papers & Reports

The Future of the Desktop in Government

Until recently, there was no alternative to the familiar desktop computer, and its expensive upgrades and maintenance requirements. For cash-strapped local governments, the desktop computer is quickly becoming an unsustainable option for future progress. Now, a technology known as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) offers an alternative. It can be significantly more affordable than buying individual computers for every employee, and it provides similar capability. This paper shows how VDI is the future of the desktop and is a game-changer for local governments.


View Full Library

Events

GTC East

Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.

View All Events