City Dept/Partner/Sponsor | Challenge |
Karen Wagner High School |
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CAST Tech High School |
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CoderDojo |
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SASmart – Mayor’s Challenge |
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StartEdUp Foundation. |
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University of Incarnate Word |
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St. Mary’s University |
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Our Lady of the Lake University |
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Texas A&M San Antonio University |
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University of Texas at San Antonio |
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Codeup |
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Codeup |
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Codeup |
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Codeup |
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Codeup |
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Codeup |
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Codeup |
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City Dept/Partner/Sponsor | Challenges/Development |
Charged Up | CPS Energy Aid CPS Energy with electric cars and their usage of electricity |
Protect your Assets | Finance Creating a process to make procurement easy and seamless for the public |
Recasa | Historic Preservation Create a platform that allows people to find/purchase salvageable materials |
Garden Tech | Innovation An app that would increase engagement and final purchases at farmers markets |
Jellyfish | CPS Energy & COSA Created hi-resolution maps and forecasts of air quality in SA |
Ada One | SAWS & SARA Focused on sewer overflows & proposed installations of various pipelines throughout San Antonio |
Data Collab | CPS Energy & COSA Created low cost air quality sensors to capture real time data and dashboard analyzer |
Fun w/ 311 | COSA Created a dashboard to view 311 calls, city weather, police and various forms of data |
Hooli | CPS Energy Created a dashboard consisting of population gowth and air quality in San Antonio |
City Dept/Partner/Sponsor | Challenge |
Outreach Grid |
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Rise Civic Consulting |
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A Codeathon (or Hackathon) is an event for coders and all types of professionals to work collaboratively on software development. Simple as that! The results usually end up being websites, apps, or robotics that fit a specific need.
The Veteran’s Codeathon is an open data event that challenges coders, designers, and tech experts in the area to build something extraordinary to improve the quality of life for our active duty military members, veterans, and their spouses in San Antonio.
All coders, designers, and tech experts, both veterans and non-veterans alike. Participants from outside the San Antonio community are encouraged to participate as well.
All are welcome to participate no matter the affiliation!
Register here.
Registration is open now
Thanks to our amazing sponsors, we are able to provide the following cash prizes to the winning teams:
This year’s community challenges and data are brought to you by the City of San Antonio and TXServes.
The opportunity to win prize money for your innovation/idea, fun times with your team. Knowing you contributed towards helping active duty military members, veterans, and their spouses.
We are excited to partner with TXServes – San Antonio, which is a part of the AmericaServes network that strives to help service members, veterans and their families around San Antonio, TX. Your donated money will be included in this donation!
No, you must be on a team of at least 2 members
Absolutely! Please email codeathon@geekdom.com
No. You must be 18 or older to participate for liability purposes.
Winners will be announced on the last day of the event – Sunday, November 10th, at 1:30 pm. We’re excited to see the final products.
Any applicable intellectual property rights to a submission will remain with the contestant. By participating in the codeathon, the contestant is not granting any rights in any patents, pending patent applications, or copyrights related to the technology described in the submission.
Yes, at the bottom of the main landing page please click the pop-up titled “schedule”
Food, shirts, mentors, prizes and an awesome weekend.
Geekdom: 110 E Houston St, San Antonio, TX 78205
Parking meters are free after 5pm on Friday and are free on weekends.
Here is a link for various other parking options.
The 2019 SmartSA Datathon Competition is open to any developer, designer, idea person, or anyone in between who want to submit a proposal for consideration*. Selected finalists will be eligible to compete in the competition June 28-30th, 2019.
*The City of San Antonio, CPS Energy, SAWS, SARA, and VIA employees are not eligible to participate in this event.
No. Registration is free, but you must submit your team member info and proposal by June 3, 2019 to be eligible.
Yes! Attendees must register as a team, each composed of at least two and at most six people.
No. Participants must form and register their team by June 3, 2019. Finalists will be chosen for the June 28-30th, 2019 SmartSA Datathon Competition via a selection committee, and will be notified by email by June 14, 2019.
Participants and their teams must be registered by June 3, 2019.
Participants must be at least 18 years of age at the time of the event.
Datathon teams can work on any type of data tool (web apps, mobile apps, dashboards data visualizations, algorithms, or visual mock-ups, for example) that will help the SmartSA partners achieve their goals Please see the judging criteria for more guidance on what the SmartSA partners are looking for.
Public data sets and developer resources are posted to www.civtech-sa.com/datathon/. The datasets will continue to be available throughout the SmartSA Datathon Competition on June 28-30, 2019.
Here is an overview of how the projects will be judged:
Challenge Areas
How many challenge areas were addressed in your idea out of the Affordability, Environmental Quality, and Access to Services categories?
Ease of Implementation
How feasible/easy would it be for the SmartSA partners to implement or use your ideas within their organizations? Is the idea, application, dashboard, model, etc. multidimensional that could grow or shift with changing community and SmartSA partner needs?
Most Compelling Application/Dashboard
Is the dashboard visually compelling, easy to understand/use, and or engaging?
Would potential users would want to interact with the product?
Most Insightful
What insightful or compelling information can be learned and or used by a SmartSA partner(s) within a specific challenge area? How impactful, critical, or useful could it be?
Community Value
Is this project something that is open to the public and or community? Is the value or importance of the idea clear and evident? What is the longevity of the idea or project?
Yes! Food and drinks will be provided for participants during the SmartSA Datathon Competition.
No. However, teams are encouraged to use the collaborative spaces available at Geekdom for the ideation and development events throughout the 2019 SmartSA Datathon Competition.
Yes! Teams have the chance of being awarded $3,000 in 3 separate categories, plus a $1,500 crowd favorite award. The three categories will be most insightful, most solvable, and most compelling. Don’t forget to invite your friends and family to the final event because the crowd’s favorite will also take home the $1,500 award.
How can we reduce the amount of waste created by property deconstruction? In a typical home deconstruction, up to 25% of materials can be reused and up to 70% of materials can be recycled. Too often, these materials end up in the landfill instead of being reused or recycled. How can the City quantifiably reduce the volume of reusable/ recyclable building materials that end up in the landfill by developing a digital technology that connects sellers and buyers of salvaged materials?
How can the City encourage diverse participation on City Commissions & Boards? Over 1,000 applications were made to City Boards & Commissions last year. To streamline applications, the City Clerk needs a user-friendly application system that connects applicants to open seats, allows the Clerk’s office to efficiently analyze applicant data, and finds unique ways to reach underrepresented communities who are eligible to apply.
How can the City connect its citizens to affordable housing? Our community’s shortage of affordable homes touches hundreds of thousands of households. Half of all renters and one in five homeowners are housing cost-burdened in San Antonio. Both residents and affordable housing developers need space to connect. This challenge is to create an online portal that helps service providers and the public locate available affordable housing, and makes it easy for landlords to share information about available affordable housing units.
How can local government better connect to private sector services? International, local and small businesses provide important resources as vendors of goods and services to the City of San Antonio. However, many businesses encounter barriers to partnering with local government. Some of these barriers include the lack of visibility of upcoming solicitations (open applications), limited access to current contract information, and limited contact with small business owners. This challenge is to create a tool that makes it easier for all businesses to find and respond to the City solicitations that they qualify for.
How can we address the challenges faced by our City’s homeless population? According to the 2018 Point in Time Count of the homeless population, a total of 705 homeless individuals living unsheltered on the streets of San Antonio. In an effort to combat homelessness, the Department of Human Services (DHS) began a Coordinated Homeless Encampment Outreach Initiative with the support of six City Departments and Haven for Hope. DHS currently tracks individuals and locations using an excel spreadsheet that is updated weekly in order to provide the right services to individuals. DHS needs a mobile technology platform that can identify individuals found in these encampments in order to connect them to customized services that help address their unique needs.
How can we uplift the small business community? Launch SA, an entrepreneurial center that the City of San Antonio administers in partnership with LiftFund, manages relationships with over 90 local business resource partners. These business resource partners provide entrepreneurs and existing businesses with key knowledge, including business plans, licensing, permitting, financials, marketing, access to capital, and human resources. Launch SA refers approximately 5,000 individuals to local business resource partners each year. However, these referrals are inefficient as they must occur via telephone, email, or in-person at Launch SA. The City’s Economic Development Department needs a centralized system that helps existing and aspiring entrepreneurs navigate the resources provided by partners.
How can the city help panhandlers transition into a safer lifestyle? The city seeks a tool or technology that helps reduce incidents of panhandling in a unique and sustainable way that considers the social, economic and environmental issues faced by panhandlers. Residents of the CivTechSA program are invited to develop a technology solution that can be prototyped to address panhandling. This online application or platform could provide an opportunity for alternative giving to local charities, for example, or connect panhandlers to work on beautification projects throughout the city that pays them a living wage. Ultimately the solution must reduce incidents of panhandling in a unique and sustainable way that considers the social, economic and environmental issues faced by panhandlers.
For more information about the CivTechSA program and how you can get involved, please email us at civtechsa@geekdom.com.
City Dept/Partner/Sponsor | Challenge | Participants/Winners |
Animal Care Services | Alert notification tool for potential pet adopters | Youth Code Jam |
Center City Development and Operation | It’s easy for people to get lost/ confused on the River Walk. CCDO staff needs help keeping people on the right track. A navigation and information tool would help. | Youth Code Jam |
Dept. of Human Services | Head Start Family Support workers don’t have an easy way to update/ provide information to families in need. An online dashboard or database management tool would help. | Youth Code Jam |
Parks and Recreation | Expanding and resident/visitor knowledge of trail systems and park locations. | Youth Code Jam |
Health | CPS Energy, VIA, Metro Health have lists of people who need uninterrupted energy and/or mobility needs. Locating residents with functional needs during emergencies is difficult. As part of AlertSA, need a complete list. | Youth Code Jam |
Convention and Sports Facilities | Increasing and modernizing security at high-profile and sporting events necessary as San Antonio grows. | Youth Code Jam |
Human Resources | Digital Employee Recognition (EnCore) Platform | Youth Code Jam |
Human Resources | One-stop Employee Provisioning | Youth Code Jam |
Government Public Affairs | Examine usability of the COSA website; identify areas of improvement for future users | SA Works and Youth Code Jam |
Government Public Affairs | The website needs a Spanish translation feature. | SA Works |
Sustainability | Challenging to engage residents and other stakeholders in a comprehensive planning process, i.e. Climate Action and Adaption Plan. Create a personalized mobile application | Youth Code Jam |
Arts and Culture | Several manual and non-automated systems with events entered into them but no systemwide way to track, monitor and market events to the public. | >Youth Code Jam |