Need A Side Project? Open Data Season Starts In Helsinki

    The next push to encourage developers to build on open data has started in Helsinki again. Last year we covered Apps4Finland, but before that competition kicks off, Open Helsinki Hack At Home encourages developers to try out and test their tech solutions to everyday problems in Helsinki. With it, they connect developers to mentors and the right data sources to be sure the best ideas come together for the demo day on October 15.

    All apps created for Hack at Home challenge are eligible for the cash prizes in the Apps4Finland competition in November, so think of it as a better feedback process to get that cash prize rather than a random weekend of hacking here and there.

    Lots of open APIs, and resources can be found on Helsinki’s developer site at dev.hel.fi.

    I was reminded of all this open data stuff when the following map popped up on my feed. I don’t know the story behind it, other than it’s a beautiful visualization of Helsinki. On the creator’s website, Susanna Ånäs writes:

    I practiced mapmaking, inspired by the software TileMill, and on the other hand by discussions about OpenStreetMap Historic’s work to describe historical geodata.

    Here you can see the current (2012) buildings in Helsinki, coloured based on the year of construction.