Gatwick Airport is supporting the first ever international airport ‘hackathon’, which will challenge programmers and computer coders to improve passengers’ travel experience by developing innovative ideas for new apps over a period of 48 hours.
Gatwick will share flight and waiting time data with the developers to help them with the challenge, alongside six other airports including: Schiphol (organisers of the initiative) Stockholm, Frankfurt, Geneva, Munich and Copenhagen.
The ‘{re}coding’ event, which is taking place in Berlin from 16 – 18 June, is the first time so many international airports have joined forces to collaborate and share data to improve the passengers’ experience by for example, managing passenger flows more efficiently, as well as preventing delays and inconvenience to passengers.
The hackathon will be divided into four main themes – Life before the airport, Life at the airport, Life in between airports and Life after the airport – which together cover all aspects of a plane trip, from booking the journey to the journey itself.
The developers will be split up into teams and present their ideas to a judging panel, who will award prizes to the winners of each theme.
This follows the news that Gatwick has installed 2000 beacons across both terminals, providing an indoor navigation system which enables augmented reality wayfinding for passengers – a world first for an airport.
Gatwick’s Chief Information Officer, Cathal Corcoran, explains: “Providing our passengers with the best possible experience as they travel through the airport is a key priority for us and by collaborating with other airports in this way we are able to explore and push the boundaries of current passenger facing technology.”
Schiphol Airport’s Innovation Manager, Christiaan Hen, adds: “{Re}coding aviation represents the first time in history that so many international airports have joined forces by opening up access to data for the development of innovative applications. The challenges faced by every airport have been made central to the themes, and this ensures that the solutions developed by the participants will be widely applicable.”
