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"Government is increasingly putting much of its public records online, creating opportunities for developers to build useful applications for citizens. From being alerted to neighborhood crime to finding the best mass transit routes, these mashups are helping solve everyday problems.\nRecently, the Washington DC government launched the Apps for Democracy contest to encourage developers to build applications using its data. Today, the winners were announced, and below, we take a closer look at 17 of them.\nLet us know which are your favorites and which you\u2019d like to see in your city.\n\niLive.at -\u00A0If you're a resident of DC interested in learning more about your neighborhood, or if you're looking to move to the city, this application serves up essential data pertaining to area businesses and crime reports and things of that nature. It's well designed, intuitive, and quite detailed in the information it delivers to users.\nD.C. Historic Tours - The nation's capital has been doing its thing for quite some time, and so there are plenty of things to see that are of political and cultural significance to natives, visitors, as well as foreign tourists. To that end, this application is helpful to all.\n\nPark It DC - Learn the roadside parking meter infrastructure so you're as prepared as a city driver can be.\nWhere\u2019s My Money, DC? - Short of watching over the shoulders of government accountants, this Facebook application enables users to see where their tax dollars are going. Anything over $2,500 in cost is counted, and you're given a forum to discuss with fellow networkers. Does increased citizen awareness breed fiscal discipline? Here's one way to find out.\nDC Crime Finder - This is somewhat like iLive.at, but singular in focus. Call a number to learn of crime reports in a segment of the city or offer your location on the Web to get a view.\n\nStumble Safely - You're out at night and fairly tipsy from your time at a bar several blocks from home. Depending on your access to the Web at such a moment, or your exceptional foresight in plotting a route before you went bar hopping, Stumble Safely can help you navigate without getting lost in spots deemed troublesome.\nDC Location - Aware Realtime Alerts - An iPhone application that alerts you to crime and building permit notices based on your location.\nWe the People Wiki - A user-controlled DC Data Catalog-based wiki. The name speaks for itself.\n\nD.C. Pedestrian - Logic would have it that sources in the capital would have better grasp on the production of walking directions. Here's one realization of that very idea.\nCitystat - All about city spending. According to its official description, Citystat \"focuses on DC Government procurement data.\"\nDCRA Building Permit Dashboard - Building permit information laid out in more digestible fashion - with Google Street View, to boot.\nAchieve D.C. - School performance statistics and poverty levels juxtaposed against one another.\nHansen Daily Quick Browse - A bird's-eye view of Hansen requests in D.C. Simple as that.\n\nDC Bikes - Your Guide to Biking in DC - Similar to D.C. Pedestrian but specific to biking. This involves numerous data points, from crime to metro stations, etc.\nCarpool Mashup Matchmaker - Find carpoolers or be one yourself more easily. An efficient effort in the real world is met with an efficient application in the online realm.\nDC Community Gardens - Find your community gardens. Enough said.\nMPD Incidents - Mobile Phone Access - A mobile front for MPD (Metropolitan Police Department) activity.\nMashable is a sponsor of the Apps for Democracy contest.\nImage courtesy of iStockPhoto, diademimages"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2008/11/13/government-mashups/>