2012 NYC BigApps

Winning applications for BigApps 3.0 received cash prizes totaling $50,000, in addition to several non-monetary prizes. A total of 13 cash prizes were awarded this year, in addition to non-monetary prizes, and winners were announced at an awards ceremony on April 17, 2012. This year's NYC BigApps competition was once again launched in partnership with BMW iVentures, along with Challenge Post, an NYC start-up that enables competitive public problem-solving, who administered the competition for the third consecutive year.

Download Printable Version

The winning applications, with team members in parentheses, included:

• Best Overall Application Grand Prize: NYCFacets (Joel Natividad and Sami Baig)
• Best Overall Application Second Prize: Work+ (Steven Baughman, Xichuan Wang, Kota Kobayashi, Paul Bland, Robbie Williams)
• Popular Choice Award Grand Prize: New York Trip Builder (Mukul Pal, Shefali Sarangal, Charu Malhotra and Vivek Puri)
• Popular Choice Award Second Prize: Scene Near Me (Avinash Dabir, Luis Miranda, Dan Blumberg and Dave Isenberg)
• Investor's Choice Award: The Funday Genie (Joe Foxton, Eran Lobl, Yonit Kariri, and Shirley Cohen-Mintz)
• Best Mobility App: Embark NYC (David Hodge, Taylor Malloy and Ian Leighton)
• Best Green App: 596 Acres (Eric Brelsford and Paula Segal)
• Best Education App: Sage: Pre-K and Elementary School Search (Edward Yau)
• Best Health and Safety App: TestFlip.com Personal Safety App (Lite) for NYC (John Yung)
• Best NYC Mashup: Work+ (Steven Baughman, Xichuan Wang, Kota Kobayashi, Paul Bland, Robbie Williams)
• Best Student Award: Park Ally (Zachariah Reitano and Mason Silber)
• City Talent Award: Uhpartments (Sam Bauch)

2011 NYC BigApps Ideas Challenge

New York City challenged the public to share ideas for apps for residents, businesses, and visitors.

There were over 600 ideas submitted to the NYC BigApps Ideas Challenge and over 1,600 votes were cast for people’s favorite ideas. The top 25 application ideas with the most votes were named as finalists, and each was awarded $100. The 25 finalists were then evaluated by a panel of judges, who selected the ten best overall ideas, each of which will receive an additional $250 for their winning idea.

The ten winning ideas include NYC apps that (name of submitter in parentheses):

• Let you 'like' or rate any street or block in the 5 boroughs (Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena)
• Create networks of citizens who can chime in about their borough, district and neighborhood issues with local government (Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena)
• Provide an open API to all MTA transit information, schedules, delays, and current locations of trains and buses
• Aggregate bike accident data to make/help petition for safer bike routes (Trev Eld)
• Allow residents to rate their building's owner, management co., landlord, even brokers and lets interested renters browse those ratings (Bud Caddell)
• Aggregate all the volunteer initiatives available, its cause and allows someone to register/participate (Christopher Bian)
• Tell someone when the next subway car is to arrive at their station, before they go underground (Stephen Mellert)
• Has a visual, color coded map of all street parking rules, regulations and street cleaning schedules (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 (Sheryl Commodore)
• Tells someone their options during an emergency based on where they are and what their status is (Kelly Thompson)

2010 NYC BigApps

On March 31, 2011, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced the winners of the NYC BigApps 2.0 Competition, the second annual contest that allows software developers and members of the public to create web and mobile applications using City data. Fourteen winning applications were selected from a pool of 58 submissions.

View Mayor Bloomberg's opening remarks here.

The winning applications are:

Best Overall Application:

• Grand Prize: Roadify iPhone App – alerts users to the latest subway, bus, or driving conditions by adding real-time updates from commuters on top of official transit data. Roadify was also selected for “Popular Choice” Second Prize. Team members: Dylan Goelz, Nick Nyhan, Scott Kolber, Dan Robinson, Brian Bush, and Amy Janzen.
• Second Prize: Sportaneous – harnesses location-based technology to organize sports games at any time, providing lists of nearby public sports facilities and ways to join games that suit the user’s schedule, location, and skill level. Sportaneous was also selected for “Popular Choice” Grand Prize. Team members: Aaron Royston and Omar Haroun.
• Third Prize: Parking Finder (BestParking.com) – takes the hassle out of finding parking in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn by providing interactive maps of free, metered, and prohibited on-street parking during specified times, as well as entrance locations and calculated price of every off-street parking garage and lot, and the ability to make reservations. Parking Finder was also selected for the “Investor’s Choice” Award. Team members: Benjamin Sann and Alexander Sann.
• Honorable Mentions: DontEat.at, Appetition, CultureNOW: A Guidebook, NextStop, and Weeels.

Popular Choice Awards:

• Grand Prize: Sportaneous
• Second Prize: Roadify iPhone App

2009 NYC BigApps

The first NYC BigApps Competition launched on October 6, 2009. Winners were announced at an awards ceremony on February 4, 2010. BigApps received 85 eligible submissions in December and the winners were determined in January by public voting and a panel of distinguished judges. View all of the submissions and the winning apps. 

• Best Overall Application - Grand Prize: WayFinder NYC
• Best Overall Application - Second Prize: Taxihack
• Best Overall Application - Third Prize: Big Apple Ed
• Best Overall Application - Honorable Mention: Actuatr, NYC Way, PushpinWeb, Trees Near You, UpNext 3D NYC
• Investor's Choice Award: NYC Way
• Data Visualization Award: WayFinder NYC
• City Talent Award: New York City Parks and Recreation Online
• Popular Choice Award - Grand Prize: NYC Way
• Popular Choice Award - Second Prize: Bookze