BikeCityGuide and Nostalgeo which make use of open data to guide cyclists around cities and combine old postcards with contemporary street views have been announced as the first winners of Apps for Europe – the first pan-European open data app competition. The two awards, one decided by a jury, the other voted for by conference delegates, were presented at the FutureEverything festival, Manchester, on Tuesday 1 April 2014.
BikeCityGuide was created by two former bike couriers; it guides cyclists on bike friendly routes with less traffic for a safe and easy bike ride, point to point routing is available offline. The app also recommends tours connecting points of interest in the city. There are already packages for more than thirty European cities and new cities are constantly being added. There is a voting page online, which encourages users to vote for the next city they want the app to cover.
Nostalgeo which won the audience prize, combines contemporary street views with old postcards in order to create street views of the past. As well as using existing open data it will get people from all over Europe to put their old postcards online. Users will be able to create walks based on shared old maps and postcard stories. Nostalgeo was created by Nazka Mapps.
The winners were chosen from 10 finalists by a jury of experts, investors and conference delegates. The jury was: Frank Kresin (chair); Lily Ask Sakula; Paul Maltby; Paul O’Toole and Miquel Costa.
The shortlist was selected from regional European business lounges networking events and an online competition. Finalists included an app that guides cyclists down routes with less traffic for a safer commute, a digital collaboration platform designed to reduce carbon emissions and an app that allows users to explore their location through historical maps.
All 10 finalists had the opportunity to showcase and pitch their ideas to potential investors at the International Business Lounge during the two-day FutureEverything Conference at Manchester Town Hall from Monday 31 March to Tuesday 1 April.
Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, said: ‘Open data holds huge potential for stimulating innovation and enterprise across the Europe. These apps show that open data is not an abstract concept, but can produce real products that can improve people’s lives. I give my full congratulations to BikeCityGuide and Nostalgeo ` worthy winners of the Apps for Europe competition.’
Apps for Europe is a European-wide support network that provides tools to transform ideas for data based apps into viable businesses. It brings together a powerful network of individuals and organisations who have been involved in open data programmes and in supporting promising ideas to scale up. As well as stimulating new services and investment, the consortium shares experiences and knowledge and champions the value of open data.