Sustainability Hackathon

WHAT IS A HACKATHON?

A Hackathon is a day-long community tech event with local civic hackers, government staff, developers, designers, urbanists, community organizers and others passionate about making our city better. Hackathon teams collaboratively build projects, apps, and products using publicly-released data, technology, and design processes to improve Jersey City.

 

HackJC: Hack into Sustainability challenged teams to present proposals to make Jersey City a more sustainable place to work, play and live using of data, technology, reports, articles and expert speakers, responding to challenges proposed by various stakeholders.

HACKATHON RESOURCES

HACKATHON PROJECTS

First Place

Sustainable Home Ownership

Sustainability calculator with quick access to updated, accurate information and resources that provide tools to build sustainable, healthy safe housing.  Home owners would connect with Real Estate agents, banks or community housing organizations.

Second Place

Flood Radar

A responsive web application used to crowd source information from people within the community of Jersey City to report flooding in their area.  Allows users to locate flood zones and see potential of reduced flooding if green infrastructure existed.  Also within the app will include ability to take action by connecting with advocates, such as urban farmers, landscapers, planners and other Jersey City officials.   

Third Place

SeeClickFix Add-on

Jersey City currently uses SeeClickFix to report and view issues throughout the city.  This add-on to the SeeClickFix app creates a more interactive emergency response system with enhanced data visualization and improved interaction with issues, emergency notifications, and expanded functionality to more directly inform users of issues around them.

Honorable Mention

Tree Huggie

This project is about an alternate app to Open Tree Map. Tree Huggie allows users to name trees, snap selfies and participate in competitions.

Water Infrastructure Data Analysis

This project uses multiple data sources to analyze how factors such as age of infrastructure, temperature, and time of year impact outcomes such as water main breaks and public safety.

Water Hacks

This project automatically connects geo-tagged social media postings regarding floods on platforms such as Instagram to the Jersey City Connect application, and proposes a variable-rate water billing system and water usage data to encourage conservation.

Rain Bucket Challenge

Our goal is to create crowd-sourced solutions to remove stress on the city’s water system and reduce the harmful excess runoff. Our campaign depends on three steps: Collect, Wait, & Use. Solution: Viral video campaign! #rainbucketchallenge  For more information, see: http://rainbucketchallenge.richstrange.com/

TreeHugr

This project aims to create a gamified, social mobile experience built utilizing OpenTreeMap source code to increase community engagement in tree mapping and stewardship

City Voice

City Voice addresses the lack of connectivity between local government and Jersey City residents by allowing residents to connect around issues they deem important, showcasing hot topics to legislators, and amplifying community voices thereby increasing stewardship and community engagement.

Grow Food Not Lawns

This project encourages homeowners to make their homes more sustainable by using available lawn space to grow food. The farms have a variety of benefits for the property owners and community: increased beautification, providing healthy food for the needy, and reducing stormwater runoff.

Sewer Backup & Vacant Lot Analysis

This project analyzed data on sewage backups in Jersey City to determine where there is the greatest need for flooding mitigation strategies. It also shows where there are vacant lots, providing opportunities to plant trees or install rain barrels in these areas. It found the greatest need in Bergen-Lafayette, downtown Jersey City, and Greenville.

Litterbot

Create a web application that allows users to identify and improve dirty areas in their city.  Users are able to report an issue automatically sends a tweet, create events for cleanups and map out all of the events in the region. 

https://litterbot.herokuapp.com/