Esri App Challenge Winners Create Actionable Tools to Strengthen Resilience Efforts

 – Hundreds of Apps Submitted in Response to White House Climate Data Initiative

Redlands, California—July 15, 2014—Esri, the world leader in mapping technology, today announced the winners of the Esri Climate Resilience App Challenge 2014. The announcement was made during the Opening Session of the 2014 Esri User Conference in San Diego. Developers were tasked to create mobile apps that enabled communities to understand and prepare for a more resilient and sustainable future. Submissions were built using Esri’s flagship ArcGIS platform for presenting, managing, and sharing information through online maps and other geographic tools. Apps were judged on their innovative use of geographic information system (GIS) technology; data; and Esri apps, maps, services, and APIs.

The three winners are

First Place

Minnesota Solar Suitability Analysis—$10,000 Prize: Users identify the suitability of a location for solar panel installation by entering home or other location information and querying solar analysis data. With this information, solar installers can also provide better site assessments, and planners can identify neighborhoods for targeted solar projects.

Second Place

Flood Forecast—$5,000 Prize: Users receive short message service (SMS) messages alerting them to imminent flooding danger at their location. This unique app analyzes National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) flood advisories, identifies flood sensitive properties using federal 100-year flood standards, consumes data from forecast.io to provide accurate local weather reports, and transmits flood alerts and Disaster Assistance Center locations via Twilio.

Third Place

Save the Rain—$2,500 Prize: Users harness mapping tools and climate data to understand how they can conserve a limited water supply by capturing rainwater landing on their home to water plants and lawns, wash cars, and even flush toilets.

"We created the challenge as a response to President Obama’s call to create a more climate resilient future. Esri and our users are actively using GIS technology to meet that goal," says Esri president Jack Dangermond. "Our users have created outstanding applications, and the three winners we selected provided the greatest potential for a more resilient future. We are excited to highlight these innovative yet practical solutions that empower communities to reduce climate impact with geographic technology."

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Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world’s mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.