Startup Weekend GOV: Open NW Application Ideas

Perhaps this is bigger than an app, but an app might be a part of it: let the citizens be able to deploy a Mesh Network of Wi-Fi access points that would join the city's emergency internet backbone or route around it if it is down. Ideally, we'd be able to re-purpose existing wi-fi hardware to do so. Wifi was a big part of relief in Haiti and it could be just as useful here for coordinating resources from the ground... more »

Where are those park and other benches that have a great view or are fun places to sit and people watch. Use existing data and/or crowdsource where nearby (park) benches are and let people add pictures and stories about life at those benches.

What's the emergency?

 

Wherever you are, when you hear sirens, launch this app. It will use geolocation to figure out where you are, then check police, fire, 911, and other data to see what emergency activity is going on near you.

 

It can sort by distance, and also translate 911 jargon into plain English.

This app would use geo location and the database of city parking signs to determine if your car is legally parked.

Washington State needs a mobile website or mobile application which allows residents to check campsite availability and also book and pay for camp sites. The program can be very quick and easy to use such as the hotels.com mobile application. Another nice feature would be to display the current temperature of the lake or river at that camp site.

Get mobile alerts when a scam (like a door to door charity scam) is reported near me. Submit scam reports. Search recent and nearby scam reports.

Based on my GPS location, connect me to the nearest neighborhood blog(s) and/or event calendars.

A mobile app that finds my closest neighborhood block watch group, lets me join, lets me see which shifts are taken, and lets me sign up for watch shifts.

Some sort of at-a-glance app for major events which will impact traffic (sporting events, parades, maybe even planned protests and school breaks). Perhaps even events at Key Arena/Seattle Center. If feasible, road closures and suggested re-routes (i.e. Broad Street, SLU changes b/c of Mercer construction work).

A matching service for schools and community organizations that need things done and volunteers, ready and able to do them for free. Kind of a "task rabbit" for volunteer tasks.

This app would help people access limited english proficiency (LEP) services in a variety of government, medical, and legal settings, and what to do if they are denied these services. With the high number of people in Washington who do not speak English as their primary language or even primary speakers who do not have the language proficiency to understand complex documents, this would help a classically marginalized... more »

The Legal Assistance Finder app provides contact information and website links for legal aid and other issue specific organizations around the state. There exists a significant amount of issue specific organizations like the Northwest Justice Project, ACLU of Washington, the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence just to name a few. This app would help get those people that need assistance get in touch with... more »

Make widgets (e.g. WordPress widgets) that let local blogs easily re-use and filter open data sets for display on their blogs. For example, show recent crime reports by zip code.

what many ideas already posted point to and could use would be a two-way data gathering and dissemination system like NYC's 311. I laugh every time I see an ad for King Co's "Links by Zip" How archaic! We need 311 to digest the data. Then apps to interface with it.

Seattle shuts down when it snows. This mobile app would allow the city and region to provide critical information to everyone, especially during those marginal times when it's either starting up or melting away and nobody is quite sure what's going to happen. Possible inclusions:

--Metro Transit status
--School closures
--Requests for help by local agencies serving low-income and homeless populations
--UW campus closure... more »