Istanbul as being one of the most crowded and attractive cities in the world, hosts several hackathons nowadays. But one of them was remarkable where Istanbul City data were used by the developers. Thanks to CitySDK Project, Istanbul transport data was opened by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for the HACKATHONIST organized in November 1-3, 2013.
Istanbul as being one of the most crowded and attractive cities in the world, hosts several hackathons nowadays. But one of them was remarkable where Istanbul City data were used by the developers. Thanks to CitySDK Project, Istanbul transport data was opened by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for the HACKATHONIST organized in November 1-3, 2013. This was the first not only for İstanbul but also for Turkey where Turkey does not have an open data policy yet. The transport open data of Istanbul city will be opened until the end of CitySDK Project, June 2014.
HACKATHONIST as the 1st Hackathon Event with Istanbul Mobility Open Data was held in Istanbul Technical University at User Experience & Telecom on the Job Training and Test Center on November 1-3, 2013. Istanbul Mobility API which was developed as a result of CitySDK Project had been available for the HACKATHONIST. Mobility API includes Istanbul City’s transportation and the POIs data. Besides the Istanbul Mobility APIs, various APIs and real-time data was available for the creative smart city applications to be developed by the participants.
HACKATHONIST as an award winning event as an activity of CitySDK (www.citysdk.eu) funded by the European Union CIP ICT-PSP Program, organized by TAGES (www.tages.biz) in cooperation with Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (www.ibb.gov.tr) and technology sponsorship of Turkcell Developers of The Future (https://gelecegiyazanlar.turkcell.com.tr) during the DevFest organized by the GDG Istanbul.
Among 324 applications in total, 55 of them with 13 teams were selected and 40 of them with 10 teams were participated with 3 participations on-line. The kick-off were held on November 1st, 2013 where CitySDK project, APIs and Istanbul transport data were presented and the HACKATHONIST started on November 2nd 2013 where it took 31 hours and ended on November 3rd, 2013 in the afternoon with the presentations of the teams. The jury was composed of Fatih Yentürk, İBB, Sezer Yeşiltaş, Turkcell, Bert Spaan, Waag Society, Erman Turan, Girişim Fabrikası, Bülent Erbaş, Koç Sistem. The main selection criteria was to develop a unique and interesting, close to the product, creative, visual and use friendly smart city application with a good them cooperation and attractive presentation. After jury’s hard decisions 5 teams were awarded in 4 categories.
The award of best application created on the CitySDK API went to Team 2 with TRAVELIST application; 1000 TL + participation to Manchester hackathon. Thanks to the team: Cemile Diler Özdemir, Çağatay Koç, Göktürk Ramazanoğlu, İlhan Adıyaman, Altuğ Bayram, Cihan Turkay.
The award of most innovative use of data went to Team 8 with Smart Citizen application; 3 T40 Turkcell smart phones. Thanks to the team: Onur Sarıkaya, Tahsin Demir, Rıza Selçuk Saydam, Hasan Devinç, Emir Karşıyakalı, Onat Yiğit Mercan, Hasan Sarp Somer.
The award of “developers of the future” went to Mikail Oral with CitySDK Android Library; 1 Turkcell tablet.
The award of “entrepreneurship factory” went to Team 1 and Team 5 at the same time. Traffic+ application by Team 1, thanks to Mert Saraç, Turaç Demir, Sabri Şahin Can. City+ application by Team 5, thanks to Yavuz İrfanoğlu, Seçkin Tokcan with the awards; Participation to 2-days Entrepreneurship Training Program and 10 training books.
As a result, it was a joyful event and a first try for the Istanbul data. There are still things to do improve data and the organization of the HACKATHONIST. The number of applicants was surprisingly much, this means that we need to cover more people with a bigger event next time. The next HACKATHONIST was planned on May 2014 with better and exciting expectations from the Istanbul City developer community.
Please click the following links to watch the speech of Leyla Arsan, CEO of TAGES, about Hackathonist:
http://www.tages.biz/HACKATHONIST/Hackathonist_Video.wmv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XUS9As4K08&feature=youtu.be
You can also see all of the photos taken during the event in facebook page of the event:
https://www.facebook.com/hackathonist?ref=ts&fref=ts
Leyla Arsan
Istanbul, December 30, 2013
