What happens when you combine 100 hackers with noble causes? You get innovation that moves our country forward and the hope that we can have a better quality of life through technology. That’s what happened at Hack4Colorado, an event recently sponsored by the Coalition for a Connected West.
Hack4Colorado recapped the event, “Nearly 100 hackers came to this weekend-long event and created 18 teams across 6 themes, scored by 10 judges, awarded $17,300 in cash and over $2700 in raffles, while 100 onlookers from government, sponsors, education and general public were inspired.” There were several tracks that hackers could focus on, which included education, health, open government, sustainability and tourism. There were also mini-competitions sponsored by iTriage, ESRI, AlchemyAPI, SendGrid and Full Contact.
The event was part of the inaugural National Day of Civic Hacking. There were an estimated 95 events across the country, and Hack4Colorado was believed to be one of the largest. Two events were held in Colorado and a total of 8 events throughout CCW’s region (AZ, CO, NM, NV, UT). Hack4Colorado event organizers took a leap of faith putting the project together and not everyone thought they could pull it off. While speaking at the event, Kristin Russell, Colorado’s Secretary of Technology and State Chief Information Officer, admitted that while she thought Hack4Colorado was a great idea, it was a long shot. She later became a believer and praised the organizers and participants for their efforts to make Colorado a better place.
The event started with a kickoff party on Friday followed by a weekend of intense hacking. The kickoff party attracted over a 100 people including developers, startups, government officials and tech enthusiasts. Eighteen teams organized themselves and competed for top prizes. In the end, there were 6 theme winners and 4 sponsored winners.
Overall, the event illustrated the opportunity that happens at the intersection of ingenuity, tech expertise and high-speed connectivity. When supported by leaders in the public and private sectors, the formula works to stimulate innovation that benefits Coloradans.
Here are all of the Hack4Colorado winners from the organization’s website:
Education Track Winner, Best use of FullContact API
“Tutorgrape is a web-based responsive application that is meant to connect people in their cities and neighborhoods who want to learn or help others learn more and/or understand concepts they are learning fully and provide a space in which these people can interact in – quickly, clearly and safely.”
Web app demo: http:tutorgrape.herokuapp.com
Health & Fitness Track Winner
“Trail Safe is an application which makes your hiking activities safe. When you start your hike, you estimate your travel time. When you fail to meet your check-in time, Trail Safe will contact you, your emergency contact, Park Rangers, and hikers in the area.”
Video demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXXEA8V_1DQ
Open Government Track Winner
“Allow simpler polling methods for topics based on already existing public opinion data. Use twitter to search for “polling” data to determine emotional perception of the public towards topics. Plan is to start with explicit hashtag searching, then expand to generalized queries with the AlchemyAPI’s. Once this has been established, we intend to present data in a map format for easier evaluation.”
Web demo: http://limitless-caverns-1143.herokuapp.com
Sustainability Track Winner
“A marketplace that connects producers and consumers of locally sourced food. Allows organic farmers to locate and target their businesses through zoning and demographic information. Allows consumers of locally sourced food to locate their meals from local organic farmers.”
Web demo: http://grubbio.herokuapp.com
Tourism Track Winner, Best In Show
“De-Vice is an app which provides critical guidance to participants and tourists interested in the craft industries of Colorado such as craft brewing, coffee roasters and retailers, small batch distilleries and recreational Marijuana stores. Guests to the state and even some of the residents may be unclear about the unique conditions required to participate safely. A primary goal is to have as many participants enjoy Colorado safely and inside the boundaries of the law, where ever they are in the state.”
Demo: http://192.232.237.152/~viceco/; http://vicecolorado.com
Sponsor Winners:
Best use of iTriage API: Am I Healthy
Best use of ESRI API: DeVice and Tutorgrape
Best use of AlchemyAPI and SendGrid API: Great Cat Detective
Best use of FullContact API: Tutorgrape