Mayor Bob Buckhorn will host the first City of Tampa Mayor’s Hack-a-thon this weekend at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Tampa but there’s really no hacking involved.
The developers started to arrive Friday for what's about to be a 48-hour marathon of pouring through city information -- and working to develop practical online apps from it all.
Participants will be given exactly 48 hours to design and build their application, and can work alone or in teams of four or less.
“It also sends a larger signal, that we’re a city that’s hip,” said Mayor Buckhorn. “That we celebrate entrepreneurship that we recognize technology and these young people, that are out there doing it, they’re an economic engine unto themselves and I want to elevate them. I want their help and I want to make sure that we grow that sector of the economy.”
What kind of apps could come out of this?
“It could be anything,” Buckhorn said. “It could be real time bus routes and where the buses are on those routes, it could be looking at crime statistics and having an interactive map, it could look at the foreclosure list and see where the foreclosures are in the city. It could be anything that we have data for available- they could create an app that would help citizens access that information.”
For the first time, City of Tampa data from crime statistics to water use will be available in an open data portal. Additionally, data from Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) will be available for use.
Judges will rank the applications based on usefulness, user experience, originality and quality, and awards will be given.