Stand out at the Waterloo Codefest: Add maps to your apps

October 5, 2015

Joy Chan

With up to $10,000 in prizes to be won, we want to help you make sure that your mobile app shines at the Waterloo Codefest on Oct. 24-25. Why not add maps to your apps?

More than 100 coders have signed up for the Waterloo Codefest, where three mobile app developers will be selected to receive up to $10,000 in prizes and bragging rights as winners of the City’s first ever hackathon.

If you’re looking for a way to get your app noticed and have a good chance at bringing home the top prize, why not add a map to your app?

Nearly all open data is tied to a location, and can be mapped. Maps are visual and interactive, and with today’s advanced GIS mapping platforms, they can include powerful Web-based functionality for data search, integration and analysis.

You can build anything on top of Web maps and quickly make sense of open data. They’re great for storytelling and engaging your target audience. Governments and other organizations use them to deliver valuable self-services including garbage route pick-up schedules, property assessments, the location of schools and bus routes, directions to polling places, information on election results and to improve public consultation on important concerns such as protecting natural resources, existing and planned public works projects, and new development proposals.

PredictION is a transit modelling and routing application created by a team of University of Waterloo students to demonstrate the impact on travel times and service areas of the coming ION Rapid Transit lines to the Region of Waterloo’s Grand River Transit network. They used open data with ready-to-use content from Esri’s ArcGIS Online platform to build this mobile app that won the 2015 Esri Canada GIS Centres of Excellence App Challenge.

With ArcGIS Online, Esri’s cloud GIS platform, you can easily add maps to your apps. It provides free basemaps and geospatial content, Web and mobile APIs, configurable templates and viewer apps, software development kits and options for hosting your app in the cloud.

Web apps created in ArcGIS Online can be opened in standard Web browsers, mobile devices and desktop map viewers. As well, you can share them through links, embed the apps in your Web sites and use them to create browser- and device-based apps, with no programming experience required.

Getting started is easy. Check out Adding Maps to Your Apps.

Additional resources:

The ArcGIS for Developers Web site provides information on Esri resources available to help you quickly get started with ArcGIS. Take a tour and sign up for a free development and testing account. See terms of use.
Develop mapping apps in the platform of your choice using the free ArcGIS APIs for JavaScript, Flex and Silverlight, and deploy your app on any device. Read the documentation.
You can also browse and use Esri’s open source code on GitHub as a starting point for building your app.
Follow the ArcGIS Developer Community Blog for the latest news on ArcGIS development tools and resources. Check out recorded and upcoming Training Web Seminars and events for Developers, as well as other useful resources on the Esri Canada Web site.
Get ideas for your app by browsing our App Showcase.