GoChicago Takes Advantage of Information at Data.Illinois.Gov
CHICAGO - August 27, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today announced that the GoChicago app has been named the state winner of the Apps For Metro Chicago contest, which was launched earlier this summer to engage Illinois' high-tech entrepreneurial community with the goal of using public data to improve the lives of millions of Illinois residents.
"Helping people use the information they pay for in new and innovative ways will improve the lives of all Illinois residents," Governor Quinn said. "GoChicago shows what the best and brightest minds in Illinois can do when the private and public sectors work together."
GoChicago contains data from the City of Chicago, State of Illinois and Illinois Department of Transportation, including designated landmarks, parks, police stations, rest areas and street cameras. With GoChicago, users can make a list of the places in Chicago they'd like to see, view directions to each place on a map or call the place for more information. After seeing a place, GoChicago users can mark the place done, concentrating thereafter only on the places they haven't yet seen. At any point in their visit to Chicago, they can share their list of places with their friends via email, including links to related Web pages.
The competition allows developers to create applications using nearly 200 data sets that have been made available by the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago and Cook County, in hopes of creating thousands of new applications that will make profound impacts on the way residents enjoy their lives.
Illinois Open Data site, www.Data.Illinois.Gov, is a searchable clearinghouse of information from state agencies that will help inform residents about the operation of state government and encourage the creative use of state information, including the development of applications for mobile devices that can be built around the data.
The data site is an initiative of the Illinois Innovation Council, created by Governor Quinn in February, to promote economic development through innovation and the engagement of citizens, developers, academia and industry. The council promotes the role and importance of innovation in economic development and quality of life. For more information, please visit www.illinoisinnovation.com.
###
