Tnooz takes hackathons to a new level in travel [hint: we are using Big Data]

If Big Data is the (valid, we think) buzzy phrase kicking about in travel, then perhaps it's time to let developers see what they can do with some of the industry's real data in a hackathon. Two and half years after starting what turned out to be the first open hackathon (THack) in the travel industry, Tnooz is once again blazing a trail with the the launch of the first Big Data-driven hackathon in October. Rather than letting developers loose on APIs collected from around the industry, Tnooz wants developers to find trends in the mountains of data generated by the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. These data sets have never been made available and placed into a hacking environment, a move we think heralds yet another milestone in the industry becoming more open and amenable to third parties and the wider developer community. We have teamed up with the Hack/Reduce facility in Boston, Massachusetts, to provide computing power, bandwidth, mentors, and domain experts for a one-day hackathon (Big Data Travel Hackathon) on Saturday 19 October (with a social meet-up the night before). So how are we doing this? We have collaborated with a number of organisations around the industry to secure a range of complimentary data sets for the event. This hack isn't about building products or services using APIs - the Big Data Travel Hackathon simply wants to see what happens when developers are let loose on the reams of data streaming around the industry. Data providers:

Travelport - SEARCH RESULT data for travel options by travel agencies and planners.

Amadeus - SEARCH QUERY data travel agencies searching for travel on behalf of clients.

Airline Reporting Corp (ARC) - TICKET data from an entire year of flights.

FlightStats - FLIGHT data of 50 million trips from 2011, including reference data for airports, airlines, and aircraft seating configurations.

Each of these data sets will be made available to all developers attending on Saturday 19 October, giving teams or individuals the chance to slice and dice the material and see what they can come up with. Some questions to ponder as you consider a hack:

What are the patterns of flight delays?
How crowded is our airspace and what are the implications?
What searching and shopping patterns are detected in the data?
How can data visualizations present patterns in the data sets?
What marketing patterns, problems and solutions can be seen in shopping, flight routes, and other data?
What other publicly available data (e.g., weather, seasonal events/holidays, etc.) can be matched against the proprietary data provided?
What public policy issues might be addressed from patterns in this travel data?

Or just something else which uses the data... Interested? The event is FREE to join and is open to developers, researchers, scientists, students, and designers from the academic and business communities. Individuals and teams are encouraged to register for the Big Data Travel Hackathon. Logistics:

Friday, October 18, 6-9 pm for a social meet-up and event overview
Saturday, October 19, 9am - 9pm: hackathon, presentations/judging and award ceremony. Meals included for hackers.

Prizes: