Hello Nairalanders,
Does any one know if there are any open source projects that are driven by Nigerians or aimed specifically empowering Nigerians or solving Nigerian specific problems?

I have heard of Inye which is more of a device that cost lower but I am more interested in applications that specifically aimed at solving Nigerian problems.

Any information will be helpful

What are these nigerian problems you talk about?

something has always been on my mind after i was robbed at gunpoint in September 2010, It was life changing and i remember i got so desperate and wish there was a platform that could aid the recovery of the vehicle.(a then unregistered 2009 Toyota Sienna with VIN 5TDZK23C492S49897)

A platform for propective car buyers that will give access to a database of stolen vehicles.

This is how it will work, If your car is stolen or missing, Just logon, Post the VIN, REGistration Number, contact person details, police officer to contact

For buyers, You search the VIN number of a vehicle you are about to purchase on the website, even with your mobile phone, if it's in the database, you report to the police officer on file

This can also be a useful tool for the Nigerian police Force, Vehicle Inspection Officers and general public.
At least, this will reduce vehicle theft, and loss of life in the process.
So every thief will need an extra eye at the back of the head after a successful robbery.

The Nairaland auto section will benefit from this also
do you think this makes sense, so we go ahead?

tdops: Hello Nairalanders,
Does any one know if there are any open source projects that are driven by Nigerians or aimed specifically empowering Nigerians or solving Nigerian specific problems?

I have heard of Inye which is more of a device that cost lower but I am more interested in applications that specifically aimed at solving Nigerian problems.

Any information will be helpful

You are search for those things that do not exist. Start one! When Nigerians ignore TopCoder and the rest,it is open source projects that they will start...

webdezzi: something has always been on my mind after i was robbed at gunpoint in September 2010, It was life changing and i remember i got so desperate and wish there was a platform that could aid the recovery of the vehicle.(a then unregistered 2009 Toyota Sienna with VIN 5TDZK23C492S49897)

A platform for propective car buyers that will give access to a database of stolen vehicles.

This is how it will work, If your car is stolen or missing, Just logon, Post the VIN, REGistration Number, contact person details, police officer to contact

For buyers, You search the VIN number of a vehicle you are about to purchase on the website, even with your mobile phone, if it's in the database, you report to the police officer on file

This can also be a useful tool for the Nigerian police Force, Vehicle Inspection Officers and general public.
At least, this will reduce vehicle theft, and loss of life in the process.
So every thief will need an extra eye at the back of the head after a successful robbery.

The Nairaland auto section will benefit from this also
do you think this makes sense, so we go ahead?

i have just added this to my To-Do list...Thanks

Javanian:
i have just added this to my To-Do list...Thanks

Pls, I'm really interested, I want to be part of it.

mj:
Pls, I'm really interested, I want to be part of it.

No probs...you can join but for now i have some projects am busy with like this one https://www.nairaland.com/1003066/creating-open-source-java-web-service but in a week or two i should be done

Javanian:
i have just added this to my To-Do list...Thanks

good. i know with the combined effort of developers here + Seun, we should be able to drive traffic to the app.
IOS, blackberry, Mobile Java developers can pull this off too, we only need to offer a service like the current project does.

had this issue with adding over 700 LGA to each state.
it took me 3 hours to add just 100 LGA to my database.
had to head to Wikipedia, click the link and copy, go back, paste, goback, click link... boring.

I had to go back to google, just to see if anyone has gotten this online in a way that it can be mirrored without errors. None!
I guess every developer tasked with this by their clients will have to face what i faced.

am thinking of making this available so you can concentrate on the fun stuff and have the data you need with a few clicks.
This is how it will work.

You go to the site, set the output format (xml, json, csv, sql) you want, table name, column names, foreign keys etc.
click generate and your time saved.

webdezzi:

good. i know with the combined effort of developers here + Seun, we should be able to drive traffic to the app.
IOS, blackberry, Mobile Java developers can pull this off too, we only need to offer a service like the current project does.

i think there is a site like that does such already http://www.policevrp.com/secure/registervehicle.php

Javanian:
i think there is a site like that does such already http://www.policevrp.com/secure/registervehicle.php

Yeah, that's true, I have checked the site.

That police site http://www.policevrp.com/secure/registervehicle.php is dead and gone. It hasn't been updated this year.
Rigim is still the police IG. Please. Anyone that want to design something similar should feel free. There is nothing wrong with having more than one DB to search for vehicles.

I like the idea of tracking stolen cars but there is a challenge which is how can you verify that the car is really stolen and it not just bad belle from your Iya Olomi across the road.

So are there no Naija driven opensource projects?

Javanian:
i think there is a site like that does such already http://www.policevrp.com/secure/registervehicle.php

good one but still lacking some helpful features, we can learn one or two from them, use a more sticky name, and make the source available.
i believe the reason for these project is to learn while helping others.

tdops: I like the idea of tracking stolen cars but there is a challenge which is how can you verify that the car is really stolen and it not just bad belle from your Iya Olomi across the road.

So are there no Naija driven opensource projects?

That was d first tng dat came to my mind! but there must be a way around dis.

webdezzi: had this issue with adding over 700 LGA to each state.
it took me 3 hours to add just 100 LGA to my database.
had to head to Wikipedia, click the link and copy, go back, paste, goback, click link... boring.

I had to go back to google, just to see if anyone has gotten this online in a way that it can be mirrored without errors. None!
I guess every developer tasked with this by their clients will have to face what i faced.

am thinking of making this available so you can concentrate on the fun stuff and have the data you need with a few clicks.
This is how it will work.

You go to the site, set the output format (xml, json, csv, sql) you want, table name, column names, foreign keys etc.
click generate and your time saved.

i dunno what and what you are manually ripping off, but
. . .crawling and ripping off massive and DETERMINISTIC data(or hierachical information) from an OPEN, very much DEFINED and CONCLUSIVE(websites that you know their link structures from parent domain to its deep sub-urls) website like WIKIPEDIA should NOT be extremely 'difficult'...
. . . Write a script that rips of the data you need... I believe you can even guess the requirements. . .(frankly, I would say the difficulty depends on your requirements)
. . . That's what made me fall in sweet love with Python, can make a solo programmer's life easy... ...if applicable.

. . .back to hiding. . .

WhiZTiM:
i dunno what and what you are manually ripping off, but
. . .crawling and ripping off massive and DETERMINISTIC data(or hierachical information) from an OPEN, very much DEFINED and CONCLUSIVE(websites that you know their link structures from parent domain to its deep sub-urls) website like WIKIPEDIA should NOT be extremely 'difficult'...
. . . Write a script that rips of the data you need... I believe you can even guess the requirements. . .(frankly, I would say the difficulty depends on your requirements)
. . . That's what made me fall in sweet love with Python, can make a solo programmer's life easy... ...if applicable.

. . .back to hiding. . .

you need to see how the pages are laid out to know what am saying.
of course python was my very first shot but in actual fact, the links are not DETERMINISTIC.