Village Gamer

Last Friday the Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, invited Canadians to vote for their favourite apps from the 15 finalists of the Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE). The developers of the app receiving the most votes will be awarded the “Fan Favourite” prize. Now considered the largest appathon in Canadian history, CODE saw over 900 participants from across the country compete to create an unprecedented 110 submissions using federal government data sets. The CODE appathon took place over the weekend of February 28 to March 2, when students, entrepreneurs, and Open Data enthusiasts tried their hand at turning federal Open Data into interesting and beneficial applications that can ultimately lead to a better quality of life for Canadians.

“The goal of CODE is to unlock the latent potential of Open Data and improve the lives of Canadians with apps that solve problems and increase the nation’s productivity,” stated Ray Sharma, Founder of XMG Studio Inc, the creator of Canada’s largest competitive hackathon and organizer of CODE. “Many of the CODE top 15 submissions have the potential to do just this. Voting on the Fan Favourite is a fun way that everyone can participate in CODE and be a part of the Open Data movement.”

The 15 finalists will compete for prize money at the CODE Grand Finale on March 28. Criteria used to narrow down the field to the top apps included innovative concept, art and design, usefulness, use of Open Data, and app stability. The Fan Favourite team will receive a $1,000 prize. Canadians can vote for their favorite apps until noon on March 28, 2014, via the CODE website or visit data.gc.ca for information on CODE, finalists and federal data sets.

• Team Big Yellow Cat with TRADAR – The Trade Radar (TRADAR) helps students determine what trade to pursue in school by predicting future demand across Canada based on expected retirement numbers.
• Team TRAK with Where 2 Live – Where 2 Live is a city & province ranking tool that helps Canadians and newcomers determine the most suitable Canadian city to live or vacation in.
• Team 3lywa with Canadian Traveller – Canadian Travellers is an app that informs the Canadian public of issues affecting the security and well being of Canadians travelling abroad.
• Team Nobis Studios with Charity Pie – Charity Pie is a mobile application focused on keeping Canadians informed and accountable in their role as global citizens. Users can see the total dollars contributed to a given country, and how it ranks on a global scale.
• Team DemoFirst with Squalid Salad – Squalid Salad informs parents of the likelihood of injuries to children, by age group, in different areas of the home, and provides age-appropriate suggestions for making the home safer.
• Team Spitballz with International Assistance Map – International Assistance Map shows Canada’s international assistance dollars broken down by year and recipient country. It also compares assistance dollars to neighbouring countries and shows country rankings over a given time period.
• Team Ninja Cornz with Canadian Industries – The Canadian Industry Watchlens visualizes data on changes to Canadian industries, highlighting the trends in numbers of jobs in an industry over time.
• Team Mintah with Cultural Business App – Cultural Business App shows Canadian cultural diversity in the context of the world, displays relative ethnic group distributions in Canadian cities, and allows business’ to target specific ethnic groups within identified areas.
• Team Electric Sheep with newRoots – newRoots matches new Canadians with cities that will give them the greatest opportunity to maximize their potential and be successful, productive citizens of Canada.
• Team IPPETAD with FarmSpot – FarmSpot is a cloud service for farm management that integrates geolocation services, a live marketplace, and open federal data.
• Team Quantified with A Healthier Commute – A Healthier Commute provides users with personalized and specific feedback about the costs of their daily commute, calculated with open data and Google APIs, to encourage people to consider ways to improve their trip to work.
• Team SuperSymmetry with Munchables – Munchables raises awareness of food nutrition by leading users through a series of trivia questions about the relative healthiness of the foods around them.
• Team Coding Force with Flu Clinic – Flu Clinic helps users get timely flu shots so that they stay healthy and productive.
• Team SYLM with Deep Breath – Deep Breath displays air quality data from local monitoring stations and nearby large facilities emitting pollutants for given locations.
• Team Moyers & Stark with CAN Fuel – CAN Fuel allows users to research and compare the fuel efficiency of cars by year, make, and model, and includes tips about maximizing fuel efficiency ,as well as, information about recalls.

“I am pleased to see students and tech enthusiasts putting Canada at the forefront of Open Data,” said Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board. “The apps created at CODE are just a glimpse of what can be done when data is open and accessible. I encourage everyone to vote for their favourite app to ensure these bright individuals are rewarded for their creativity and innovation.”