What makes a great "open data mashup"?

As we progress through the Summer Jam “Open Data Mashup” Challenge, I’ve gotten the same important question a few times: “What makes a great open data mashup?”

I figured the best way to answer that question was with code, so I did just that. This morning I created “Shady Eats”, a fun little mashup that combines San Francisco food cart permits with the location of city-maintained street trees, so you can find someplace to relax and eat your street food in the shade.

Yes, its kind of silly, and it doesn’t solve any pressing societal issues or otherwise expand our minds through open data. But it does exemplify what I believe is a core concept of the “mashup” idea - combining two completely unrelated datasets in a new and interesting way that helps us think about the places we live a bit differently.

I recorded a walk-through of the app and how I built it, which you can watch below. The code is also available on Github, and you can try it out yourself as well if you’re in San Francisco.

Reminder: Open Data Mashup submissions are due on June 22nd, so you have ten days left to submit!