IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Best App Ideas Named in New York City Contest

NYC BigApps contest announces 10 best ideas.

Giving New York City residents the ability to “like” or rate a street or block in a given borough and aggregating bike accident data to make safer bike routes were among the top 10 winning ideas chosen for NYC BigApps Ideas Challenge announced Wednesday, Aug. 10. 

The competition, which started in late June by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) gave the public a chance to submit ideas for apps that would benefit New York City’s residents.

“This competition has given a voice to New Yorkers with creative ideas on how to improve their city, but who don’t necessarily have the technical capabilities to create an app themselves,” said NYCEDC President Seth W. Pinsky in a statement.

The 10 winning ideas would create apps that:
•    Let a person ‘like’ or rate any street or block in the five boroughs (by Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena);
•    Create networks of citizens who can chime in about their borough, district and neighborhood issues with local government ( by Gomez de Llarena);
•    Provide an open application programming interface to all Metropolitan Transit Authority transit information, schedules, delays, and current locations of trains and buses;
•    Aggregate bike accident data to make/help petition for safer bike routes (by Trev Eld);
•    Allow residents to rate their building’s owner, management company, landlord, even brokers and lets interested renters browse those ratings (by Bud Caddell);
•    Aggregate all the volunteer initiatives available allow a user to register/participate (by Christopher Bian);
•    Tell someone when the next subway car is to arrive at their station, before they go underground (by Stephen Mellert);
•    Provide a visual, color coded map of all street parking rules, regulations and street cleaning schedules (by Will Turnage);
•    For each borough gives the location of nearest public restrooms with A, B, C, D type ratings for their cleanliness and the level of safety (by Sheryl Commodore); and
•    Tells someone their options during an emergency based on where they are and what their status is (by Kelly Thompson).
Out of more than 600 ideas submitted for the challenge, a panel of judges narrowed down the ideas to 25 finalists who were each awarded $100. Of the 25 selected, the top 10 best ideas were chosen and winners received an additional $250.

The winning ideas will help develop NYC BigApps 3.0, New York City’s third annual apps competition. The competition is expected to launch this fall, according to the NYCEDC.


Discussion Starter: What do you think of these ideas? Have anything better? Share your comments below.