Do you have a cool idea to mash up some data about Ottawa? Well, the city is running an apps development contest, and the main judging criteria are right up our alley: usefulness, inventiveness, usability, and accessibility.

If you want help forming a team, post a comment here and we will see if we can bring people together. Voting starts on January 4, 2011.

More details can be found at http://www.ottawa.ca/home_page_feeds/features/open_data_en.html

The City of Ottawa is running its first public contest to develop apps from open data and is inviting residents from all over to participate both in creating new apps or voting on their favourites.

The goal of the contest is to encourage entrepreneurs, agencies, students, IT professionals and others to create innovative new apps that use open data to improve community experience, stimulate economic growth and engage residents in municipal government.