Tuesday, March 29, 2011

LA Transportation Agency Dangles Prizes For Software Developers

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has quietly launched a major contest looking to spur development of mobile application that utilize information about the Los Angeles area's public transit. Metro has launched the Metro Development Challenge, which is dangling nearly $10,000 in prizes to for the best mobile and web applications in a number of categories. The top prizes are worth $2,000 each. According to Metro, the challenge is kicking off on Thursday, and will be open for entries until May 20th. The agency said it is looking for "creative, useful mobile applications and web mash-ups" which will help riders of the Metro. Among the category of prizes are for the best, mobile application; a mobile application developed specifically at a college; a web mashup using the Metro's transit data; a web mashup specifically in the area of mapping; and an application specifically using data on NextBus.

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