Qumak : Hackathon City Coders Płock is completed. Read about the winner projects

Applications for Płock - activation of citizens

Participants of the event, during the weekend on May 20th-21st, have worked intensively using open data bases made available by the City Hall in order to code from scratch an application for the citizens of Płock. In their efforts with technology they were supported by mentors from Qumak and SAP. Programming enthusiasts involved themselves in promoting an active way of life and taking advantage of cultural benefits of the city.

The winner team developed an application enabling gathering a group of people engaged in the same sports discipline in order to be able to train together. Through this application you can select facilities to train in the city area and profile of colleagues with which we want to train - so that e.g. their skills matched ours.

The second place on the podium took an application activating working persons who have little free time during the week to spend with their families. After setting relevant filters the solution provides a hint which activity you can undertake in a very short period of time e.g. to a mother with her son. It shows the closest cultural facilities, e.g. theater, and when we mark that simultaneously we need a baby sitter it will point to the closest to the theater place where we can find a nanny.

The podium was complemented by an application using the augmented reality for comfortable sightseeing in the city. Functioning in the background on an ongoing basis, it does not require from the recipients any engagement and when we get close to e.g. an important historic building it will inform us about what historical place is this.

Data a treasury of knowledge - hackathon awards

Jury also granted awards - for an idea on an application working with data which is held by town halls but have not been used so far. Some examples include information on areas in which at present the grass is being mowed. This information is for allergic persons so that they know which parts of the city they should avoid visiting in a given period of time. Moreover, for a solution enabling checking a queue of applicants in various divisions of the City Hall and downloading remotely a virtual number in the queue. One application was also awarded for an exceptionally mature design and a transparency of interface.

- Use of data stored by cities and making it available to citizens turns out to be an excellent way to develop solutions improving life in cities. A great example was provided by the participants of hackathon in Płock who on the basis of this data developed very useful applications. I am convinced that in future there will be created next solutions - says Tomasz Turczynowicz, Director of Sales in Qumak S.A., which was a partner at the event and provided mentors.

- As the participants indicated some data can be also monetized. These bases include significant information for companies or institutions operating in various areas, such as health, entertainment, security or communal services - says Jacek Terebus, deputy president of the city of Płock for development and investments. - Making this data available shows also that a so-called Smart City concept is possible to be realized with a large participations of citizens who are able to create the tools they need. Additionally, the hackathon organization helps us to search for and develop local talents. From this perspective we take into consideration an organization of a next edition of Hackathon City Coders Płock - adds Jacek Terebus.

- Important aspect was ensuring legal background of the event - Krzysztof Siewicz from the law office BWHS underlines that he supervised the process of using the data provided by the City Hall, which gave comfort to the participants.

About Hackathon City Coders Płock

In Hackathon City Coders Płock 11 teams took part. Majority of them within not even two days managed to develop an application, and the winner team presented its complete ready solution. First there teams received electronic equipment, and the main award were laptops HP OMEN, designed especially for gamers.

Organizers of the first hackathon in Płock were: Płock City Hall (main organizer) in co-operation with Przetwornia, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar) and Cifal. Partners of the event were among others: Qumak (main partner), Star ITS, Plus, SAP Polska, law office BWHS, Płocki Park Przemysłowo-Technologiczny and ChallengeRocket.com.