Welcome to solve Smart City challenges in Europe’s largest hackathon in Helsinki on November 6-8

Artikkelikuva: Welcome to solve Smart City challenges in Europe’s largest hackathon in Helsinki on November 6-8

Ahoy all Smart City innovators! There is still one week left to register yourself and your team to Europe’s largest and coolest hackathon SlushHacks & Ultrahack taking place in Helsinki on November 6-8. Thus, please register at os.ultrahack.org latest on October 30 and participate in solving the City of Helsinki’s competition challenges. You can win great prizes and get recognition as well as visibility for your talent and work. There are travel grants available for international participants.

Winners will be presented at SLUSH on the 11th of November
SlushHacks and Ultrahack are organized in connection of SLUSH on the weekend prior to SLUSH: Ultrahack and SlushHacks take place on Nov 6-8 and actual SLUSH on Nov 11-12. The best solutions of each Ultrahack track will be presented at SLUSH on the 11th of November. The ultimate winner of SlushHacks will be granted a prize of minimum 20.000 euros in Slush, on the evening of 11th of November. Check all the prizes of Slushhacks and Ultrahack here.

City of Helsinki seeking solutions for Smart Cities
The City of Helsinki and Open Finland Challenge, in cooperation with Forum Virium Helsinki, host the Smart City and Civic Tech track of the Ultrahack competition. The city of Helsinki offers numerous competition challenges for innovators and developers to be solved. Read more on the challenges in the end of this text. Both students and corporate teams are warmly welcome to participate in the hackathon, competing in separate categories.

City of Helsinki’s competition challenge: seeking for functioning innovative apps leveraging Open Data
The City of Helsinki’s competition challenge for Ultrahack participants is to come up with a functioning application that leverages Open Data in an innovative and diverse way. The City of Helsinki is a pioneer and leader in opening its data repositories. Now the city wants to encourage developers to come up with new kinds of applications, visualizations and dashboards using Open Data – for example, shedding light on

•    What is taking place in Helsinki or how things are evolving.
•    Mobile applications that help tourists find interesting locations and events.
•    Allowing citizens to take part in the public decision-making processes.

User-oriented and diverse use of the Open Data sets available in through the Helsinki Region Infoshare service (HRI) service, especially the open APIs, are highly encouraged. As a source of inspiration, the city of Helsinki is showcasing potential ideas, data sets and contact points related to the five Smart City topics: Urban mobility, Energy & emissions, Culture & tourism, Retail & shopping and Collaborative city. Check more detailed tips, hints and inspiration for your competition work in the end of this text below.

–    We believe that innovations emerge from urban contexts, and we heavily emphasize collaboration among developers. The Ultrahack collaboration provides fine support for the activities of Helsinki Loves Developers, utilization of the City’s open datasets and the goals of Helsinki Region Infoshare. We hope that the collaboration will help to create amazing new solutions for smart cities, to multiply these solutions and to generate new business, says Jaakko Salavuo, City of Helsinki Director of Information Technology and Communications.

Check also a video interview with Jaakko Salavuo here.

FAQ’s on Ultrahack
More information on Ultrahack can be found below in the Frequently Asked Questions section. Additional information here: Ultrahack 2015. The City of Helsinki warmly welcomes all developers to Europe’s largest hackathon: see you in Helsinki on Nov 6-8!

1.    Is Ultrahack free of charge?

  • YES. Totally.
  • With specific conditions, we offer you free travel, free accommodation, free food, free drinks, free music/show experiences and free Slush tickets.

2.    How can I submit my project to be considered for Ultrahack?

  • Register at os.ultrahack.org and submit your project with as much detail as you can. It’s that simple!

3.    How/when can I be eligible for the prizes?

  • Send your winning project plan to os.ultrahack.org
  • www.ultrahack.org/prizes defines the criteria for each prize
  • Prizes are awarded during the pre-game (ends Oct 30), at the 48H hack finals and at Slush.

4.    Do I have to stay at the 48H hack venue for the whole duration (6.-8.11.)?

  • No. But we expect you to register at the event on Friday, show your project to the judges on Saturday and join the Finals/Award ceremony on Sunday evening
  • But who would want to miss the spirit of the whole event? So be there, it will be AMAZING.

5.    How can I get a travel grant?

  •  Send an interesting project plan to os.ultrahack.org.
  • Travel grant winners are announced every Sunday at 20:00 EET.

6.    How do the travel grants work?

  • If you or your team reside outside of Finland, you can be eligible for a travel grant. The grant amount is decided on a case-by-case basis, but the point is to pay your flights to Finland and back for 1-2 persons in your team. If you want to (and you should!) take more members with you then they’ll have to pay out of pocket. UH organizers will buy your tickets up front.
  • For the Finns e are organizing transportation from the bigger cities to get you to the venue for free.
  • Travel grants amounts vary from 200-800e.

7.    Can I participate if I cannot write code?

  • Yes you can! But we definitely recommend you to team up with some people with coding skills. You can search for them at os.ultrahack.org and ask them to join your team.

8.    How can I register my team?

  • Each team member should register at os.ultrahack.org.
  • When you create your Project, just tag your team members to the project so we know who are involved in which project.

9.    What kind of accommodation is available?

  • Sleeping is possible at the venue (couches, bean bags, mattresses etc)
  • The venue includes sauna, hot tub, showers, wc’s
  • Hostel/hotel rooms (1-4 beds per room)

10.    Is there going to be food?

  • Yes, we will be serving free food several times a day.
  • Also free coffee, tea and other refreshments.
  •  We have food for the special dietery needs too.

11.    What about the food allergies or specific travel or sleeping arrangements?

12.    Is the (pre)game entirely online or do you require participation to an event during the game period (or is it a mixture of both?)

  • Pregame is entirely online, you are not required to take part in any pre-events. They are meant to inform and support your work with the challenges.

13.    How can I protect my idea, when everyone can see my project plan?

  • Of course there are limitations how to protect your idea when all ideas are visible. It is all about how you can manage to execute your idea. And remember – source code is not visible to all! Source code can be shown only to judge. All IPR retains with you, and doesn’t transfer in this competition.

Tips, hints and inspiration for your Smart City competition work at Ultrahack
As a source of inspiration, the city of Helsinki is showcasing below potential ideas, data sets and contact points related to the five Smart City topics: Urban mobility, Energy & emissions, Culture & tourism, Retail & shopping and Collaborative city. Check below the more detailed tips, hints and inspiration for your competition work and participate in Europe’s largest hackathon on Nov 6-8. See you at Ultrahack in Helsinki!

Urban mobility

Traffic and transportation is a major challenge of any urban environment where density, infrastructure, public transportation, weather and layout all play a major role. While each city has its own challenges, this theme focuses on how better access to information and services can lead to more efficient and effective mobility in the city.

Your brief:
Solutions for Urban Mobility should deal with, but are not limited to the following aspects:

  • inform users on traffic condition.
  • guide users in choosing the right means of transportation
  • help promote the use of sustainable mobility.

HSL Developer Community
HSL Developer Community is open for all individuals and organisations interested in the Open Data and Open Source software regarding Helsinki Region Transport HSL or wider. HSL is the public authority that plans and procures the public transport (ferry, tram, metro, train, bus) within its member municipalities (Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo, Kauniainen, Kirkkonummi, Kerava, and Sipoo). Contact person: tuukka.hastrup@hsl.fi.

Traffic Volumes in Helsinki
This dataset provides data on the volume of traffic in Helsinki since 2011.

Metropolitan area
The metropolitan travel time matrix provides the time taken to travel

Other traffic open data
List of numerous traffic related APIs on the Avoindata.fi portal for Helsinki and rest of Finland

Ideas for inspiration
Create an app for winter bicyclists, that combines data about scheduled cleanups (Ylre) with realtime data about the snow ploughs (Stara) and weather. You can also include information about road works (Winkki) and public events (Linked Events) that may cause disturbance on the routes. Feedback about winter maintenance or other issues can be sent to the city from the app through the Open311 interface. Building registry data can be used to offer routes e.g. through residential areas rather than industrial zones.

Create an app that informs people when they need to move their car (to prevent it from being towed away). The user could be notified by the app whenever the city is planning to clean up the streets (puhdistussuunitelmat API) or when there are scheduled road works (Winkki API).

Energy & Emission

As most of humanity moves to live in cities, energy efficiency and emissions control becomes a critical factor for our health as individuals, communities and as a planet. While many aspects of this issue are quite systemic and technology-driven, significant changes can take place from changes in our behaviour. How can we know more, spend less and live better are key questions and answers for advancement.

Your brief:
Solutions for Energy and Emissions should deal with, but are not limited to the following aspects:

  • help cut wasteful energy consumption
  • give tools to reduce energy spendings
  • improve transparency and visualization of energy consumption
  • provide Hints and tips on saving energy
  • facilitate automation and control of energy consumption of electronic home devices

Helsinki region waste and emissions statistics
Various statistics on the Helsinki and metropolitan region emissions, noise pollution, air quality, recycling and other indicators. Contact email: avoindata@hsy.fi

Energy consumption and emissions
Various statistics on emissions and energy in the Helsinki city. Contact email: petteri.huuska@hel.fi

Other environment related statistics
List of various environment related statistics in the HRI data catalogue

Ideas for inspiration
Solar Energy App – Analyze the Helsinki energy consumption data (Helen) to find a customer segment, that would benefit from installing solar panels on their rooftops. The Suvilahti solar plant energy production data and Fingrid hourly energy prices data could be useful in the analysis.

Culture & Tourism

Enjoying the cultural offer of a city is paramount to the wellbeing of citizens and a positive travel experience of visitors. The culture and tourism theme aims to harness the potential of mobile applications to give new impulses to the culture in the City. Here you will find the tools to create an app that facilitates access to the culture and supports the artistic talent of the city. Start creating your innovative solution and our mentors will help you throughout the process to make your app a reality!

Your brief:
Solutions for Culture and Tourism should deal with, but are not limited to the following aspects:

  • give access to the cultural agenda to all citizens and visitors in your city
  • help artists and any cultural agent in their work
  • connect makers of culture with their audience
  • offer personalized experiences for visitors
  • facilitate meaningful connections between visitors and citizens
  • help manage the flow of visitors in a city

Linked Events
Linked Events provides categorized data in a on events and places for the Helsinki capital region. Contact info: aapo.rista@forumvirium.fi, mobile: +358 40 674 0440.

Metropolitan service map register
REST API to all the metropolitan area public service locations. The same API is used for the city’s real time service map: http://palvelukartta.hel.fi/. Contact info: juha.yrjola@hel.fi, mobile: +358 503 066 955

Statistics on tourists in Helsinki
Monthly statistics on tourist related data in Helsinki.

Ideas for inspiration
Create a live events application using the Linked Events API. The user could see the events on a map and, for example, filter them based on time, place, type of event and organizer. The event info could be enriched with weather forecast data and estimated travel time and public transport info.

Create a “One day in Helsinki” app. The app could focus on cruise guests and other tourists who visit Helsinki only for one day. What kind of needs could these tourists have? The app could use for example public transport info, events info (Linked events), restaurant and bar information and other useful information.

Shopping & Retail

Shopping is a core activity of our daily lives and one that still offers the chance to stroll, browse and interact with fellow citizens making each experience unique. Apps can enhance that experience giving it a social dimension, facilitating discovery or easing comparison and transaction.

Think of shopping as a process and you quickly see the abundant opportunities for mobile app solutions: from “Pre-Shopping” (explore, discover) to “Shopping” (find, experience, purchase) to “Post-Shopping” (share, evaluate).

Luckily we have great mentors from the world of retail, payments and technology that will support you in this journey across Fashion, Food, Beauty, Restaurants, Leisure and so much more!

Your brief:
Solutions for Retail and Shopping should deal with, but are not limited to the following aspects:

  • help consumers make better choices
  • connect local businesses with customers
  • create solutions for a sustainable consumption
  • add a social layer to the overall shopping experience

Cafe and restaurant data
Data set containing the information on all locations that serve or prepare food in Helsinki. Contact email: ymk@hel.fi

Metropolitan service map register
REST API to all the metropolitan area public service locations. The same API is used for the city’s real time service map: http://palvelukartta.hel.fi/. Contact info: juha.yrjola@hel.fi, mobile: +358 503 066 955

Travel time matrix
The metropolitan travel time matrix provides the time taken to travel in the city by foot, public transport and car.

Collaborative City

When it comes to defining cities, citizenship participation is paramount. In a collaborative city, local communities come together to address some of their own challenges in a collaborative way. Whether it is caring for our young, old and ill or tendering to the socially excluded apps can provide solutions at scale. The collaborative city connects citizens with the decision making process in all questions of public affairs. It offers it residents tools to actively shape their communities.

Why should you care? With over 80% of the world population living in cities solutions for a more collaborative city not only will have a huge societal impact. It might well be the only way forward.

Your brief:
Solutions for the collaborative city should deal with, but are not limited to the following aspects:

  • enable users to take part in the making-decision process.
  • allow users to make informed decisions.
  • help users to report their opinions around specific communal issues.
  • empower users to create their own tools and solutions.
  • improve efficiency and efficacy of the citizens’ participation process.

Open City Decisions
The thousands of decisions in Helsinki made every month in various parts of the organization are now available in structured format in the Open Ahjo API. Contact info: juha.yrjola@hel.fi, mobile: +358 503 066 955

Temporary use of public spaces
The Winkki database provides geolocated information on all public works and events in public spaces (permissions for terraces, events, etc). Contact:joonas.pekkanen@hel.fi.

Database of public areas
The Ylre dataset provides the register of public areas in the City of Helsinki. The register is maintained by the City of Helsinki Public Works Department. It includes information about streets and green space areas. Contact: joonas.pekkanen@hel.fi

Helsinki public issue reporting
Helsinki uses the international Open311 standard for its public feedback / issue reporting channel. This allows third party apps (e.g. Metro Fiksaa) to build feedback channels that all use the same data. Contact: joonas.pekkanen@hel.fi

Helsinki buidings in 3D
Map of 3D Buildings (LOD1) in the City of Helsinki and other map data. Contact:joonas.pekkanen@hel.fi

Read more:

Ultrahack 2015 Helsinki, 6-8, November
Slush
Helsinki Loves Developers
Helsinki Region Infoshare (HRI)
Open Finland Challenge
Forum Virium Helsinki
Ultrahack at Twitter: @UltrahackHQ, #ultrahack

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