Why is New York City holding the NYC BigApps competition?

New York City believes it is essential to stay ahead of the innovation curve, and to use technology to improve the quality of life of New York's residents and visitors. The City also believes that releasing data to the public provides important transparency that encourages government accountability and accessibility.

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What are the criteria for the winning applications?

Software applications will be judged on the Quality of the Idea (Including creativity and originality), Implementation of the Idea (including user experience and design), and Potential Impact on New York City residents and visitors. For the Investors Choice award, apps will be judged by their Commercial Appeal. You may view all details in the Official Rules.

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Do I retain intellectual property ownership?

Yes, all entrants regardless of winner status will retain Intellectual Property ownership of their software applications, but must agree to make their applications available for free throughout the competition period and for one year after.

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Can more than one person work on an application and receive credit for it? And if the app wins a prize, will the prize money be split among the creators?

Yes.

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Can I enter more than one application?

Yes.

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Who is eligible to enter the competition and from what countries?

NYC BigApps is open to legal residents, 16 or older, of the fifty United States (including the District of Columbia) and legally-registered corporations or organizations that are domiciled in the United States and employ fewer than fifty people at the time of entry. (See the next question for large organization eligibility.)

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We are an organization. Can we enter?

Organizations with fewer than 50 employees may enter and compete for the cash prizes if they are legally established entities (profit, non-profit, academic) in their respective countries. Organizations with 50 or more employees may enter and compete for the Large Organization Recognition Award, which has no cash prize.

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Must I use New York City data, and where can I find it?

Yes, software applications must use at least one data set from the NYC.gov Data Mine located at http://www.nyc.gov/data.

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Why do I have to upload a video?

The popular choice award will be voted on by the public, and not all of the public has access to every desktop, web, or mobile platform to view each app. The video will be helpful to them and to the panel of judges as well. We suggest you make your video clear and concise, and show the functionality and purpose of your app. You may do a screencast or use a handheld video camera to make your video, among other options. Your video is not required to have audio, though you may find that it is more helpful to viewers if it does.

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If I'm making an iPhone app, does it have to be on the app store?

All apps need to be "working software apps." iPhone apps need to be submitted to the app store but don't need to be approved. We reserve the right to ask you to provision our devices to test iPhone apps and make sure they are working if they have not yet been approved.

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Will more data be added to the NYC.gov Data Mine?

New datasets will not be added to the Data Mine during the competition period, but individual data sets may be updated. You may want to check the Data Mine periodically to see if your data has been updated.

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What if I have questions about a the data?

For questions about the data, please contact the NYC.gov Data Mine on this page: http://www.nyc.gov/html/datamine/html/contact/contact.shtml. They are responsive.

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