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round 60 groups of young software engineers and IT students competed recently to produce smartphone applications to benefit Jakartans in terms of education, transportation and health.

Held by Google Indonesia, the Hack for Impact competition encouraged software engineers to create apps to solve three main problems in Jakarta by using data provided by the city administration.

Akbar Juang Saputra, a fourth-year student at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) majoring in informatics technology, said that he and other three ITB students in his group had created an app called '€œDarurat!'€ that simplified access to emergency service numbers and center locations.

The app displays various emergency service logos '€” a fire engine, an ambulance or a police car. By pressing a logo, the user can directly telephone the emergency unit.

'€œFor example, if you press ambulance, it will automatically call the nearest hospital in your area,'€ Akbar told The Jakarta Post.

Fazlur Rahman, a recent graduate from the Indonesian Institute of Technology (ITI) in South Tangerang, said his app would help Jakartans to get information on angkot (public minivan) routes in Jakarta.

Fazlur, who said he had obtained all the angkot route data from Jakarta and Tangerang transportation agencies, claimed that by using his app, people could choose which angkot to take to get to their destination.

'€œBesides obtaining the data from transportation agencies, I'€™ve also taken photos of angkot to include in my app information,'€ he said.

A jury made up of members of various communities helped to decide the winning apps.

Each winning team received Android One devices, Google merchandise and a tour of the Google Indonesia Office.

Shinto Nugroho, Google Indonesia'€™s Public Policy and Government Relations Head, said recently that the competitors were not permitted to have commercial purposes.

She added that she was aware that the competition would be a great place for Google, the city administration and software engineers to work together to solve problems.

'€œWe hope that an event like this can be held annually, but it is also up to the city administration,'€ Shinto said.

Alberto Ali, head of the City Communications, Information and Public Relation Agency'€™s Jakarta Smart City Technical Unit, said the competition had brought the city closer to being a complete smart city, an idea that could be achieved with contributions from the private sector, government and citizenry.

'€œWe want to optimize software engineers in this city and maybe we might find an Indonesian version of Mark Zuckerberg,'€ he laughed.

The top three winners of the competition were: '€œBus in Time'€, '€œVaccine Time'€ and '€œAppaja'€. The Bus in Time (BIT) app, created by five ITB students, helps people to get information on estimated time of arrival of public buses with Bluetooth technology.

Vaccine Time, made by Suseno Dermawan, Rhio Gemuruh Satrya and Estu Aji, issues reminders to parents of their children'€™s mandatory vaccine schedule and provides information on suitable hospitals.

Meanwhile, Appaja provides information on public transportation that can be taken to a certain spot in the city, along with estimations of time and cost.