Community Showcase
Welcome to the Open Data Buffalo Community Showcase where you can find examples of open data being utilized by Buffalonians to generate insight and create innovative solutions. Check out what the local civic tech community is building with open data and gain inspiration for projects of your own!
ErieHack 2.0: Wastewater Warehouse
Buffalo innovators Aaron Krolikowski and John O’Brien developed SMS-based chatbots and analytical dashboards to help decentralize the process of storm and wastewater data collection. Their toolkit, “The Wastewater Warehouse,” allows individuals, businesses, and governments to access, explore, and participate in the collection, management, and visualization of data, enabling easy interaction with datasets (including geospatial assets available on Open Data Buffalo) to promote informed decision making.
The project won Buffalo's $3,000 first place prize and advanced on to the semifinals in Detroit where they again took first place and won $5,000. They had a great showing at the Cleveland finals and continue to work on their Wastewater Warehouse.
Civic Tech at Work:
Check out two blog series posts written by Kenneth F. Kellner, a Postdoctoral Fellow at West Virginia University. His analyses, Distribution of Urban Trees in Buffalo and Comparing Recycling Rates Among Buffalo Neighborhoods, examine datasets available on the Open Data Buffalo portal. These reports are great examples of Open Data Buffalo datasets being used to generate insight, ideas, and inspiration.
Congratulations to the winners of
Mayor Byron W. Brown's Civic Innovation Challenge Powered By AT&T!
We were incredibly impressed by the creativity, sophistication, and innovation shown in all of the submissions. Read below to see which three apps most impressed our judges with their potential community benefit, technical execution, and creativity.
Grand Prize: Good Neighbor
The Good Neighbor App utilizes multiple datasets from various sources to help residents navigate local services in a quick and streamlined way.
By compiling information on emergency services, healthcare,
education, community, voting, and housing in one easy-to-use interface, this app provides the user with a living civic
directory that uses open data to engage with and provide vital and up-to-date
information, services, and assistance to the residents of Buffalo.
Developed by Clark Dever (@clarkdever) and
Jordan Walbesser (@jordanwalbesser)
2nd Place: Buffalo Recycle-A-Bowl
This app incorporates game dynamics to promote recycling and encourages people to interact with their
neighbors and take pride in their neighborhoods. Each user can monitor their neighborhood recycling rates using the
City’s open data and earn points by recycling, taking quizzes to learn about
recycling, sharing recycling-positive posts on social media, or participating
in neighborhood cleanups.
Developed by Christopher McDermott
3rd Place: Fire Hydrant Distance Check
This app can
tell you when you are parked too close to one of the City’s almost 8,000 fire hydrants by drawing a 15-foot radius around every fire hydrant and utilizing your cellphone’s GPS.
Using this app, drivers can guarantee they won’t be ticketed for obstructing a fire hydrant and the Buffalo Fire Department will benefit from having
clear access to tap into the water supply.
Developed by Wesley Csendom (@wcsendom)
