And then there were three. After 47 great entries, we have three finalists in the Apps for America contest, and now it is time for us to figure out the winners. After taking a look at the winners, there’s instructions on how to vote at the end of the post. The finalists are in random order:

GovPulse.us

GovPulse is a Federal Register browser. The Federal Register is the official journal of the federal government of the United States. In it, you find any kind of notice, notification and solicitation that a federal agency puts out. GovPulse parses it and gives you a way to browse the tens-of-thousands-of-pages-log register by agency, category or date. What’s also compelling about it is the visualizations and analysis the software does on top of the register. For instance, check out the agency page to see sparklines of the notices from each agency, or the map of places mentioned by an agency.

ThisWeKnow.org

This we know is probably best described as the EveryBlock for federal data. Type in your zip code or city and state, and ThisWeKnow will provide you with details that the federal government has about your community. The depth of information in the site is incredible. You can see the mass exodus occurring in Bellevue, NE or the breakdown of people diagnosed with cancer in Los Angeles.

DataMasher

Datamasher allows you to take two different public data sources and mash them up with an operator (+ – * /). Then you can share them with your friends and comment on the mashups of others. A few of my favorite mashups include: High School Graduation vs. Guns in Household, % Total Population in Prison, and my favorite: People per US Representative.

Now for the voting– in order to keep down on fraud, we’re going to require registration for voting. And the place where we have the best user registration system is our brand new (very beta) Sunlight Labs website. So as a voting participant, you can vote in our contest. Here’s how–

1. Register for a new Sunlight Labs account. (and excuse our mess as we construct the site!)
2. Take a look at all three apps and figure out which one you like best.
3. Cast your ballot

You’re only able to vote for one, so choose wisely. You can change your vote up until the day the winners are announced.

Congratulations to all the finalists. We’ll be in touch with you soon!