Open Data in Chicago? There (Soon Will Be) An App For That

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 8, 2011 4:20PM

Apps for Metro Chicago is a contest for developers to create smartphone and online applications using the City of Chicago open data portal, State of Illinois traffic and tourism data, data from Cook County and MetroPulse, with a goal towards creating a more transparent open government.

Currently there are 175 data sets to work with and over $50,000 in awards to be handed out to the best apps. Rules and guidelines for how the prize money will be awarded can be found here. What they're looking for are simple to use, creative apps that are new for the metropolitan Chicago area. If you're thinking of making a bus tracker app, that's already been done (although many of us can argue that it hasn't been done well). But an app that, say, maps out all the bike trails in the county forest preserve system, or lists what FOIA requests have been approved and for what within a specific time frame would be ideas for what they're looking for.