Water Productivity Improvement in Practice

WaPOR Hackathon: From Database to Application

Are you a hackathon expert? Or maybe you want to attend your first one? We are happy to have everyone join the “WaPOR Hackathon: From Database to Application”, brought to you by the WaterPIP Project.

This hackathon focused on bringing together scientists, engineers, programmers, communications specialists, and local experts to create real-world applications using WaPOR remote sensing data (wapor.apps.fao.org). Outputs could include phone applications, GIS plug-ins, web maps, or whatever your creativity wants! The hackathon focused on 4 themes:

  • Communications to smallholder farmers
  • Big data for water management
  • Remote sensing for environmental issues
  • Monitoring the SDGs

Each team developed an idea on how WaPOR data can be used to solve a problem within one of the themes, with support from a team of experts in various fields. After 1 week, each team pitched their concept to the jury who selected five finalists. These finalists had 2 additional weeks to develop their concept further with advice from industry experts. The final winning team won a cash prize and the chance to have their product showcased by the WaterPIP Project and their partners!

Results

The pitches from the finalists were so good, the jury chose 2 winners! We would like to congratulate Team 4 (RIVEM) and Team 17 (WAPPlugin Development Team) for their winning ideas! Want to watch the live sessions from the hackathon? Take a look at the playlist below, along with the 5-minute pitches from the winning teams.

Team 4: RIWEM - WaPOR 4 Sustainable Ecosystem Management

Team 17: WAPPlugin Development Team - WAPPlugin

 

This hackathon is brought to you by the WaterPIP Project partners, MetaMeta, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, and Wageningen University & Research, and in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and eLEAF. This event is supported by the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands under the IHE Delft Partnership Programme for Water and Development (DUPC2).