By Dan Kasun, Senior Director, US Public Sector Developer Evangelism
In October, we launched the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Federal Application contest, encouraging developers, partners and hobbyists to submit Windows Phone applications for federal employees. It was a high bar, as developers not only had to come up with solutions that solve a specific federal need (i.e., for federal employees, federal agencies, or citizens in a federal scenario), but the application had to be deployed into production on the Windows Phone Marketplace as well.
The response we received was incredible! 36 applications were submitted for review – all very high quality and targeting some very unique solutions. Of course, there can only be 9 winners, and this week the contest judges announced them – all of which will be featured on Zune Marketplace.
This was a unique opportunity to tap into the incredible talents of our citizen developers, and they delivered, creating a great variety of applications that facilitate citizen engagement, increase transparency and improve access to government services. All of the applications are available to download from the Windows Marketplace right now – so feel free to check them out personally.
We’d like to thank all of the developers who submitted applications – a marketplace rich with useful government-oriented solutions is good for everyone. For those who are considering writing an app with a “government” slant, make sure to check out the State and Local Windows Phone 7 Apps Contest which just got underway!
Without further ado - here are the winners:
Congress 411 - provides easy access to information for every member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
Relief Central - includes the World Factbook from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Field Operations Guide from USAID, MEDLINE Journals, and Relief News from the CDC, Red Cross, FEMA, ReliefWeb, and more. This free resource delivers up-to-date information to assist those sent to disaster sites.
Homeland Security - puts the Homeland Security Advisory System at the tip of your fingers. The Homeland Security Advisory System provides real time access to the Threat Level Alert.
Airport Status - allows citizens to look up a US airport and see if the airport is currently experiencing any delays. In addition, the current weather conditions for the selected airport are displayed, as well as a map of the airport location and turn-by-turn driving directions from your current location.
Congress - allows users access information about their elected Congressional representatives - read their news stories, view their tweets and watch their videos.
Most Wanted – provides an extension of the FBI’s Most Wanted lists by encouraging users to contribute to the FBI’s hunt for these criminals. Citizens are able to submit tips to the FBI that are also geo-tagged to help agents follow up on these leads. This first-of-its-kind solution enables on-the-go submissions of tips to law enforcement directly from a mobile device.
rGov - provides access to the latest recall news provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) including podcasts.
Recovery.gov - puts the power of the Recovery’s website in the hands of the American citizens. The application leverages the use of the Recovery’s social media presence, including Twitter, Facebook, and the Recovery Blog, and brings the visual power of Recovery projects to the people as photos are shared from all across the country. Recovery.gov hand delivers the latest Recovery news and project reports, offers the ability to search for local projects, and increases accountability and transparency.
United Nations News – allows citizens to keep in touch with the latest news from the international community, tracking global events and initiatives from around the world. This app offers a global narrative through an abundance of articles, photos, videos and radio broadcasts.
Congratulations to our winners of the WP7 Federal Application contest! We will be posting more details on these solutions here on FutureFed and look out for additional Twitter updates on @FutureFed.
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