App-lifying USGS Earth Science Data
Challenge Dates:
Submissions: January 9, 2013 at 9:00am EST – Ends April 1, 2013 at 11:00pm EDT.
Public Voting: April 5, 2013 at 5:00pm EDT – Ends April 25, 2013 at 11:00pm EDT.
Judging: April 5, 2013 at 5:00pm EDT – Ends April 25, 2013 at 11:00pm EDT.
Winners Announced: April 26, 2013 at 5:00pm EDT.
From the webpage:
USGS scientists are looking for your help in addressing some of today’s most perplexing scientific challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. To do so requires a partnership between the best and the brightest in Government and the public to guide research and identify solutions.
The USGS is seeking help via this platform from many of the Nation’s premier application developers and data visualization specialists in developing new visualizations and applications for datasets.
USGS datasets for the contest consist of a range of earth science data types, including:
- several million biological occurrence records (terrestrial and marine);
- thousands of metadata records related to research studies, ecosystems, and species;
- vegetation and land cover data for the United States, including detailed vegetation maps for the National Parks; and
- authoritative taxonomic nomenclature for plants and animals of North America and the world.
Collectively, these datasets are key to a better understanding of many scientific challenges we face globally. Identifying new, innovative ways to represent, apply, and make these data available is a high priority.
Submissions will be judged on their relevance to today’s scientific challenges, innovative use of the datasets, and overall ease of use of the application. Prizes will be awarded to the best overall app, the best student app, and the people’s choice.
Of particular interest for the topic maps crowd:
Data used – The app must utilize a minimum of 1 DOI USGS Core Science and Analytics (CSAS) data source, though they need not include all data fields available in a particular resource. A list of CSAS databases and resources is available at: http://www.usgs.gov/core_science_systems/csas/activities.html. The use of data from other sources in conjunction with CSAS data is encouraged.
CSAS has a number of very interesting data sources. Classifications, thesauri, data integration, metadata and more.
Contest wins you a recognition and bragging rights, not to mention visibility for your approach.