Google sponsors ‘Reroute/sf’ Hattery Labs hackathon with $10K in prizes for best innovation using Google Maps API

Google is sponsoring an upcoming hackathon by Hattery Labs that is awarding two grand prizes to innovators using Google Maps API.

The “Reroute/sf” hackathon runs from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21 at The Hattery, according to its Facebook page, and it aims to “improve transportation in San Francisco with technological innovation, and work with the City to make it real.” The three-day event essentially invites engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs to “make San Francisco a better place.”

The hackathon will host three challenges, i.e., “Collect the right data,” “Plan a trip anywhere – on-time,” “See what’s broken and watch it get fixed,” while senior representatives from the City of San Francisco and the technology community will determine who wins the following four prizes:

• Best Innovation using Google Maps API | $7,500 Grant
• Runner-up Innovation using Google Maps API | $2,500 Grant
• Best Public Transit Innovation | $500 Clipper Card credit
• Best Collaboration | 3 free General Assembly classes per team member

Aside from Google, the Hattery, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Waze, Google Maps, and the General Assembly sponsor the hackathon. The Hattery is a collection of experts ranging from designers and engineers to investors and brand marketers, and some of their most notable collaborative work under Hattery Labs includes giving people clean water and helping Haitians rebuild schools through WellDone and Haiti School Project, respectively.

Registration details below.

Google Maps is widely heralded as a premiere mapping solution since its inception in 2005. The search giant’s No. 1 mobile foe, Apple, has experienced much contention as of late for having sidestepped Google in favor of its own less-immersive Maps app. Google’s sponsoring of Reroute/sf is lucrative opportunity for strengthening its third-party lifeline and garnering even more positive press in lieu of the Apple Maps debacle.

Free Reroute/sf registration is available at: http://hattery.com/reroute/