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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Pinoy software developer bags top spot in New York apps contest

Filipino Joel Natividad and Indian Sami Baig, creators of a software application called "NYCFacets," recently won the top spot in "NYC BigApps 3.0," an annual contest to create mobile and web apps using official New York City data.

A report of the news site New York Daily News in April said Natividad and Baig's application simplified the accessing of data on the city's NYC Open Data portal.

The two software developers will share the grand prize money of $10,000.

Brendon Kessler, CEO of ChallengePost, a local tech startup which powered the competition, said the win gave Natividad and Baig the impetus to leave their former employers and launch their own NYC tech startup, Ontodia.

Out of 96 entries, 11 apps won prizes. The creators of the programs will share $50,000 in winnings. The apps they developed can be found at nycbigapps.com.

Now on  on its third year, the contest is sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

According to New York Daily News, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said : "New York City is home to the smartest, most creative people, the most talented engineers and a budding technology community." 

The official website of the New York City Economic Development Corporation said the winners of the "NYC BigApps 3.0" are:

Best Overall Application

Grand Prize: NYCFacets - seeks to streamline and simplify the process for accessing, understanding, and utilizing the tremendous amount of data available in City’s NYC Open Data site. (Joel Natividad and Sami Baig)

Second Prize: Work+ - helps New Yorkers who traditionally work from home find nearby locations to work in their communities. (Steven Baughman, Xichuan Wang, Kota Kobayashi, Paul Bland, and Robbie Williams)


Popular Choice Award

Grand Prize: New York Trip Builder - a travel site that helps users personalize a trip in just a few quick steps. (Muku Pal, Shefali Sarangal, Charu Malhotra, and Vivek Puri)
Second Prize: Scene Near Me - provides alerts when users are near legendary New York City movie scenes. (Avinash Dabir, Luis Miranda, Dan Blumberg, and Dave Isenberg)
Investor’s Choice Award

The Funday Genie - an application designed to help users plan a free day in New York City. (Joe Foxton, Eran Lobl, Yonit Kariri, and Shirley Cohen-Mintz)
Best Mobility App

Embark NYC - an application designed to make taking the subway simple. (David Hodge, Taylor Malloy, and Ian Leighton)
Best Green App

596 Acres - a public education project aimed at making communities in Brooklyn aware of the land resources around them. (Eric Brelsford and Paula Segal)
Best Education App

Sage: Pre-K and Elementary Schools Search - a mobile application that enables parents to search by location for nearby NYC public Pre-K and elementary schools. (Edward Yau)
Best Health & Safety App

TestFlip.com Personal Safety App (Lite) for NYC - a personal emergency web mobile application which helps alert the nearest Police Precinct, provides a custom emergency phone number by SMS or provides a pre-scripted voice message or a custom email by simply pressing one Emergency Button. (John Yung)


Best NYC Mashup
Work+


Best Student Award

ParkAlly - an application which simplifies the search for available parking spots and eliminates the inconveniences associated with parking in heavily populated areas. (Zacharaiah Reitano and Mason Silber)
City Talent Award

Uhpartments - provides building maintenance reports for those users seeking apartments. (Sam Bauch)
- with Andrei Medina, VVP, GMA News

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