Apps with Istanbul Transport Open Data Awarded

 

Istanbul as being one of the most crowded and attractive cities in the world, hosts several hackathons nowadays. But one of them was remarkable where Istanbul City data were used by the developers. Thanks to CitySDK Project, Istanbul transport data was opened by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for the HACKATHONIST organized in November 1 – 3, 2013. This was the first not only for Istanbul but also for Turkey where Turkey does not have an open data policy yet. The transport open data of Istanbul city will be opened until the end of CitySDK Project, June 2014.

Istanbul Mobility API as an Incentive

HACKATHONIST was held in Istanbul Technical University at User Experience & Telecom on the Job Training and Test Center on November 1 – 3, 2013. Istanbul Mobility API, which was developed as a result of CitySDK Project, had been available for the HACKATHONIST. Mobility API includes Istanbul City’s transportation and the POIs data. Besides the Istanbul Mobility APIs, various APIs and real-time data was available for the creative smart city applications to be developed by the participants.

Hackathonist image3

HACKATHONIST was organized by TAGES in cooperation with Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and technology sponsorship of  Turkcell Developers of the Future.

The Amount of Applications Exceeded Expectations

Among 324 applications in total, 55 of them with 13 teams were selected and 40 of them with 10 teams were participated with three participations on-line. The kick-off were held on November 1st, 2013 where CitySDK project, APIs and Istanbul transport data were presented and the HACKATHONIST started on November 2nd 2013 where it took 31 hours and ended on November 3rd, 2013 in the afternoon with the presentations of the teams. The jury was composed of Fatih Yenturk, İBB, Sezer Yesiltas, Turkcell, Bert Spaan, Waag Society, Erman Turan, Girisim Fabrikası, Bulent Erbas, Koc Sistem. The main selection criteria was to develop a unique and interesting, close to the product, creative, visual and use friendly smart city application with a good them cooperation and attractive presentation. After jury’s hard decisions five teams were awarded in four categories.

The award of best application created on the CitySDK API went to Team 2 with TRAVELIST application; 1000 TL + participation to Manchester hackathon. Thanks to the team: Cemile Diler Ozdemir, Cagatay Koc, Gokturk Ramazanoglu, Ilhan Adiyaman, Altug Bayram, Cihan Turkay (see photo below).

Winning_team

The award of “Most innovative use of data” went to Team 8 with Smart Citizen application; 3 T40 Turkcell smart phones. Thanks to the team: Onur Sarikaya, Tahsin Demir, Riza Selcuk Saydam, Hasan Devinc, Emir Karsiyakali, Onat Yigit Mercan, Hasan Sarp Somer.

The award of “Developers of the future” went to Mikail Oral with CitySDK Android Library; 1 Turkcell tablet.

The award of “Entrepreneurship factory” went to Team 1 and Team 5 at the same time. Traffic + application by Team 1, thanks to Mert Sarac, Turac Demir, Sabri Sahin Can. City + application by Team 5, thanks to Yavuz Irfanoglu, Seckin Tokcan with the awards; Participation to 2-days Entrepreneurship Training Program and 10 training books.

Next HACKATHONIST in May

As a result, it was a joyful event and a first try for the Istanbul data. There are still things to do improve data and the organization of the HACKATHONIST. The number of applicants was surprisingly much, this means that we need to cover more people with a bigger event next time. The next HACKATHONIST was planned on May 2014 with better and exciting expectations from the Istanbul City developer community.

Please click the following links to watch the speech of Leyla Arsan, CEO of TAGES, about Hackathonist: Video and YouTube. To see the photos taken during the event in Facebook page of the event, click here.

 

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