As part of the GeoNext conference held on 19 August, a hackfest was held using APIs and data provided by event partners HERE Maps, VicRoads, what3words, TomTom and Airbus Defence and Space.

The competition kicked off with a launch event at Melbourne’s ThoughtWorks on Saturday 29 July, which was then followed by three weeks of development time from the entrants. The winners were then invited to show their works during a special presentation at the GeoNext conference at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The hackfest offered participants the opportunity to create innovative, unique and valuable applications using the data sets contributed by our sponsors.  There were no specific guidelines for the hack contest – entrants were free to use the datasets and APIs to create the most compelling demo, application or visualisation.

Each of the entrants were rated by a panel of judges and the prize money of $7,500 was divided amongst four of the best entrants across two categories, The most innovative use of one or more competition APIs to solve a real problem, and Best use of Victorian government open data to address one of the  nominated challenges.

The winning solutions include:

Hoang Nguyen – ‘Crash and Road Closure Timeline’
1st Place – Most innovative use of APIs
2nd Place – Best use of Victorian government open data

Andie Yam – ‘Mapping Melbourne’s Bike-ability’
1st Place – Best use of Victorian government open data
3rd Place – Most innovative use of APIs

Alex Leith – ‘ViCrash’
1st Place – Most innovative use of APIs

Ming Bai – ‘Truck Journey Plan’
3rd Place – Best use of Victorian government open data

The full list of finalists included: Angus Scown, Anton Bubna-Litic, Andie Yam, Ming Bai, Hoang Nguyen and Alex Leith.

Congratulations go out to all the finalists and winners, and many thanks to everyone who participated in the contest.

Photos from the GeoNext Hackfest presentations can be viewed at the GeoNext website.