The 2014 Space Apps Challenge has come to a successful close.Team NIXIT, one of the 2 finalists from the Calabar hackathon, has emerged overall winner.
Team NIXIT is made up of Joshua Ihejiamaizu and Johnson Okorie, students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri. Their Android app, My Earth Observer, which they entered under the “Where on Earth” category, was chosen for it’s global relevance, local execution and market potential. My Earth Observer enables users – policy makers, aerospace engineers, agriculturists etc – make better decisions by helping them observe changes in specific regions of the earth terrain over time.
Team NIXIT went away with the $3000 cash prize, courtesy of PetroData Management Services Limited. They also won an incubation slot at the iDeaHub location (Lagos or Tinapa) of their choice.
Team NIXIT did not go home the only winners however. The following were winners in other categories.
Technology partner Challenge Winners
Microsoft Challenge
Build a space-themed game for Windows Phone 8, using any NASA data, and win a Nokia Lumia 925
Runner-up: Team Eagle (from Akure) for “Young Cadet”
Winner: Toni Solarin for “Ajala’s Travels”
Alpha5 Challenge
Alpha5 is a Rapid Application Development platform that enables developers build cross-platform apps up to10 times faster than other development platforms Developers who chose to use this platform had to learn and use it on the fly. $700 cash prize was up for grabs.
Runner-up: Team Hazard for “Hazard Pinger”
Winner – Team Sapphire for “Weather Prof”. Went home with $700
Tom Tom Challenge
Will be submitted to, and decided by, Tom Tom SA.
International Space Apps finalists
Each participating city gets to submit 2 apps from 2 teams to NASA, for a chance of a trip to the Kennedy Space station. That’s 4 apps from Nigeria to compete against 190 other apps from the 95 participating cities this year:
Team NIXIT – My Earth Observer
Team CodeMach – GeoWatch
Team Eagle – Young Cadet
Tony Solarin – Ajala’s Travels