Eighteen teams – with names like “Predictably Well” and “The Flying Turtles” – squared off over the weekend with cash prizes at stake to convert health data into useful tools for the public in the San Diego County Code-a-Thon.

In the end, John Alexander’s design for a mobile application that educates residents about the health of their communities along with resources to lead healthier lives – such as locations of gyms, supermarkets, farmers markets and health providers based on their location – took the top prize of $9,000.

“I liked the challenge of simplifying the data and presenting it so that the public can not only grasp it, but actually use it,” said Alexander, a San Diego State University alum who now designs web applications for the military.

Code-a-Thon was hosted by the County of San Diego, Health 2.0 and the California HealthCare Foundation. Teams competed for $20,000 in prizes that was split among the top six proposals. The San Diego event was part of a national series of code-a-thons involving public data that took place over the weekend. The prize money was donated by the California Healthcare Foundation.

Read the full story on County News Center.

View the winners and download their presentations here >>