NYC BigApps | Addendum

ethan — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:37:45 +0000

As an addendum to our earlier post about the NYC BigApps contest, we’re shedding some additional light on another contestant, as well as one we already covered. Though the opportunity to vote has ended, we should all still be supporting these projects, each of which contribute to making our city a better place to live.

Roadify – has turned out to be one of our favorite applications in this competition, as it carries on the tradition of grassroots activism that has made Park Slope the place it is today. Randy (one of the project organizers) actually met us on the street and handed us a printed alternate-side parking key the other day. This team is not only working from the top-down; they are also advocating from the bottom-up. We are fully on board with their efforts to create an organized local movement to change the horrible parking situation in Park Slope.

Park Slope Alt Side Parking Map

Download a copy of your own alternate side of the street parking map by visiting this tweet by the Roadify team. Currently the map is only of the Roadify catchment area in Park Slope.

UpNext 3D Cities – CTO Vik Advani wrote to us and suggested we share his project, about which he had this to say:
“Our app is free and provides a fast, smooth, interactive map for New York (and Boston). We have a interactive subway map, ability to search by categories, tapping buildings, or keywords. It took us over 4 YEARS to create the tech. ReadWriteWeb called us the ‘future of mobile maps’.

Watch the video below to get a better idea of what we do. Please give us a try. We recommend using wifi to download the map.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Interact with NY by downloading the app here.

New York City Apps & Digital Programs

ethan — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:37:31 +0000

The NYC Big Apps competition is well under way, and there are some amazing pieces of technology in the pool of contestants. Some of our favorite applications are listed below:

General NYC Apps:
NYC Way: 30+ NYC iPhone Apps in One – This is our favorite all- encompassing app in this competition. It is currently available for free online through the iPhone store. We think these developers should work with all of the other developers in this competition to make a super NYC app with many more functions.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Building and Research NYC Apps:
Blocks And Lots – This an amazing little widget that can be installed on any website. Department of Finance, Buildings and City Planning records are displayed for over 5 million property listings.

Here is a screenshot of this great little widget. As soon as we have a chance, we’re installing it on our website.

NYC Landmarks – This app allows your inner preservationist to explore landmarks throughout NYC, look up designation reports, post comments, and more.

Real Estate NYC Apps:
RentSleuth – Having lived in 6+ places since we have been in NY, this app would have proven itself invaluable in our apartment searches. We especially love the heat maps created with City data. These include: bedbugs, violence, health, and subway concentrations. The screenshot below shows apartments under $2000 in the Williamsburg area, with both the graffiti and bedbug heat maps turned on.

We also generated a heat map of violence throughout the South side of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. As you can see there are some serious pockets in SoHo, East New York, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, and Downtown Brooklyn/Fort Greene.

Parking NYC Apps:
Roadify – This is currently a Park Slope-only app and has yet to expand elsewhere, but we think it has great potential. Over 450 members have already begun using this TXTing-only parking application that allows users to trade-off parking spots. Once we give this one a try, we’ll let you know how it fares.

PrimoSpot – Another parking app. This one has a web map which helps you locate convenient spots. It also lets you know specific rules that apply to your parking spot, such as how long you are allowed to stay and which alternate-side rules apply.

ParkShark – Looks like this application has many of the same features as those we already listed. It seems as if the parking app that will fare best will be that which can attract the most users.

NYC Broken Meters – We tried this out on our iPhone. It seemed like a great idea, but did not work that well for us. It was very hard to find a parking spot, let alone one that had a broken meter.

Bicycling NYC Apps:
Spokes NYC – A free iPhone app for Bicyclists. It features point-to-point directions and bike rack and bike shop finders.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ride the City – An online app for mapping out a bicycle route.

Research & Data NYC:
Uncover Your City – This app makes possible a wealth of opportunities for comparing, contrasting and analyzing city data.

OMB Executive Dashboard – An interesting app that displays information from the City’s Office of Management and Budget.

We’re excited to explore a few more apps and will update this posting when we do:
NYCMapExplorer
Department of Numbers: New York City Home Prices and Affordability
Bookzee
SMS Congressional District Lookup
PrecinctsReporting NYC
Nexttown

The New Victorians » technology

NYC BigApps | Addendum

New York City Apps & Digital Programs