Esri's Weekend of Innovation: Ninth Annual Intern Hackathon
Esri hosted its ninth annual intern hackathon where summer interns teamed up to create a new ArcGIS application in just one weekend known as Esri’s Weekend of Innovation! The hackathon took place July 26 – 28 with 80 hackers across three different time zones representing 50 unique universities. What was at stake? Cash prizes and major bragging rights!
The mission for the hackathon was for the teams to accomplish three things:
- Each team will create a working app that solves a real-world problem we face today using Esri Technology.
- Develop a five-minute showcase of that working app for the semi-finals.
- Finalists present to Esri colleagues and senior management that includes a live demo of the application created.
“The Esri hackathon was an amazing and intense experience that provided me an opportunity to collaborate with other interns from across various departments simulating the real-life, day-to-day work that goes on at Esri to develop a new product.” – Chima Okoli, 2024 Esri Intern in Support Services
There were 15 teams with 4-6 interns in each that held various roles such as developer, GIS analyst, graphic designer, and entrepreneur. The variety of roles ensures that all student interns can participate regardless of skill type.
Most teams were based out of Esri HQ in Redlands, California and worked in the Esri Café often from morning to night! There were 12 Esri mentors who volunteered their time during the hackathon to assist with technical roadblocks, moral support, and help to fuel their innovation.
“The Hackathon was amazing because I experienced the full lifecycle of a project— from developing an idea all the way to presenting a finished product,” said Esri intern and hackathon participant Wesley Motlow.
Working tirelessly, all 15 teams created their applications in time along with their presentation to pitch their idea.
This year's hackathon teams:
| ArcActive | Four the Win | Jack’s Minions |
| Arcapella | GedIS | Latitude with Attitude |
| BYO Co. | GeoExplorers | PathFinders |
| CareLink | GeoVibe | SettleSmart Solutions |
| Chrononauts | Green Library | Team No. 1 |
You can view the teams’ projects in this gallery.
Criteria for Judging
Only 8 teams advanced to the finals and presented their applications to colleagues, competition judges, and senior management.
To determine the finalists (and ultimately the winners), teams were judged by the following criteria:
Innovation. Feasibility, usefulness, degree of difficulty, and originality of the project concept. Does the idea match the target user, it's intended use case, or the target market.
Use of ArcGIS. Use of ArcGIS products and developer technology, services, tools, and Esri software in the project. Using ArcGIS in new and novel ways.
Execution. Execution of the project solution, how much the team was able to complete on their idea, how well the project is crafted and organized, and how well the team worked together.
Presentation. Quality of the presentation, articulation of the project concept, justifying the usefulness of the project, explain how ArcGIS was applied, match their intended idea with the target audience.
These 8 teams advanced as finalists with the opportunity to present their application:
- ArcActive
- CareLink
- Four the Win
- SettleSmart Solutions
- BYO Co.
- Chrononauts
- Latitude with Attitude
- Team No. 1
Interns presenting their application at Esri HQ in Redlands, CA.
Hackathon Finalists Presenting Their Application
Tuesday, July 30th was the big day where all finalists presented their applications with a live demo inside the Auditorium at Esri HQ in Redlands, California.
Each team had ~5 minutes to pitch their application and explain how their solution was innovative and solved a real-world problem. After their individual presentation, they would need to answer questions from the audience and judges.
There were 5 judges who were all Esri employees:
- Ruben McWilliams, Software Development Engineer I
- Suganya Baskaran, Principal Product Engineer
- Rosemary Boone, Sr. Industry Marketing Manager
- Kerry Robinson, Principal Product Engineer
- Tim Ormsby, Principal Product Engineering Writer
“I was blown away by the quality of the presentations this year and couldn't believe what they were able to achieve in such a short period of time,” said Kerry Robinson, Hackathon judge and Principal Product Engineer at Esri. “From the well-prepared presentations and beautiful designs to the imaginative use of ArcGIS to solve real-world challenges and technical ability to build complex solutions, it gave me renewed hope for our future!”
And the Winners Are
After all presentations, judging took time to vote for the winning team, and the winners were announced shortly after.
Winners for the Ninth Annual Esri Intern Hackathon were announced as the following:
People’s Choice Award: CareLink
$125 Cash Prize
Application summary: CareLink is an automated hotline assistant designed to help unhoused people find nearby resources such as shelter, legal aid, mental health care and food kitchens. This app uses an NLP model in conjunction with Esri ArcGIS products to search the Greater Los Angeles Area to find these resources and connect them with the help they need.
Best Teamwork: ArcLens
$125 Cash Prize
Application summary: ArcLens significantly aids travelers in planning and optimizing their trips by consolidating all necessary information into a single, easy-to-use platform. By entering a destination, travelers can view a map highlighting picturesque locations and hidden gems. This feature saves time and effort by eliminating the need to search multiple sources for unique photo spots.
Third Place: MemSync
$250 Cash Prize
Application summary: This app offers an immersive view of locations as they appeared in the past, bringing history back to life. Using ArcGIS technology, this app not only captures precious memories of a specific location, it also builds communities eager to share their experiences.
Second Place: ParkSmart
$500 Cash Prize
App summary: Park Smart allows users to find available parking near them in a quick and efficient matter. ParkSmart is helpful because of the ability to show available parking, prices, crime in the area, rating, and distance from their location. The application also includes an optimization feature that takes all five factors into account and recommends the best parking options for drivers to use.
First Place: EasyAisle
$1,000 Cash Prize
App summary: EasyAisle is a mobile application that allows our grocery heroes to link their delivery platform accounts (DoorDash, InstaCart, UberEats, etc.) into one interface. The app will group the imported orders by the store, placing it into one aggregate grocery list, and use Esri technology the app will configure an optimized route to pick up the products off the shelf. Saving time, energy, and money while giving our grocery heroes a boost in tips for their phenomenal customer service. Now we can put that cape back on.
The Ninth Annual Esri Intern Hackathon was a tremendous success, showcasing the incredible talent and creativity of Esri’s summer interns. With intense competition, innovative ideas, and the drive to solve real-world problems using GIS, the event highlighted the power of collaboration and innovation. The interns not only developed impressive applications but also gained invaluable experience working together under tight deadlines.
The presentations to Esri colleagues and senior management demonstrated the potential of these young professionals to make significant contributions to the GIS field. Congratulations to all the participants and the winning teams for their outstanding efforts and achievements. We look forward to seeing the continued impact of these innovative projects in the future.
