Theme: Undiscovered vermont

For the 7th annual HACKVT, we are inviting friends and strangers together to create a new perspective of Vermont by exploring the landscape, how and where we live, and what we do.

Everyone knows about Vermont’s maple syrup, fall foliage, beer and world class skiing - but do they know about our semiconductor, spatial analytics and puppeteering industries? Or the best place to ride a bike, hear a painted bunting and see a house designed by Peter Eisenman? What about where to find secret caves, amazing barbecue, and locations to view the Northern Lights? What about foot traffic, snowfall, tourism, emergency response, road maintenance, wildlife movement, and business and job growth patterns?

For this year’s HackVT theme we’re asking teams: What can you discover about our State and how can you communicate it in a valuable way? What can you discover about our landscape, demographics, economy, government, and environment, and how can you provide access to that information through an application that provides value in Vermont and beyond? Come join us at HackVT and create tools to explore the ecosystem through geospatial data, get a new perspective and build an app to share your story with the rest of the community.

Examples:

Through geospatial storytelling one can show the Restoration of Cuba, or depict the growth over time of Portland, OR by showing the age of its buildings.  With a global interactive map of wind patterns and a United States version, you can overlay what is happening on a location and provide a whole new set of insights. Understanding recreation through a NY City bike map, or where the bus is right now and when it is expected, like in RouteShout for Green Mountain Transit could transform how you travel. Or understanding where Locals and Tourists are located through geospatial mapping of twitter can tell you where to go.

Data sets will be announced on SEPTEMBER 16TH!

Don't know much about working with Geospacial Data? No problem! We've planned several PRE-HACKATHON EVENTS with local experts and we've provided a list of THEME SPECIFIC RESOURCES.