Our startup has an idea of adapting our emergency messaging and family disaster planning software to the Android platform. We are looking for feedback on the idea (love it or hate it would be great to know why), as well as prospective developers to lead the Android side of project and share any prize money.

To see the big picture of what we do, watch the demo here:
www.lready.com/schools. This might look like a large project, but our idea for an Android application is very simple (and we have a lot of the work for the web- based app already done).

Here is the abbreviated vision: 1) There is a disaster 2) We register the disaster 3) We find out if any of our users were affected in near real time 4) We send affected users alerts with customized instructions from a disaster plan they have already created 5) They can push one button to instantly let their families know they are safe 6) They can record a message that will be sent to the cell phones, land lines, email addresses, and instant messaging accounts of all their family members (we have the tech figured out for this piece) 7) They can push another button and get directions to their emergency meeting location based off their current GPS coordinates.

We have a few rough back of the envelope type interface mockups you can download here: www.lready.com/Android%20Idea.ppt. Have any better ideas for functionality?

So why is this a great entry for the Android challenge?

If you browse the board, you'll see tons of ideas for the standard Web 2.0/social media/ecommerce applications, but very few that address a social need while simultaneously showcasing many of the Android functionalities.

Pulling from the 10 specifically listed areas of focus from the contest guidelines, we clearly showcase 4: -News and information -Rethinking of traditional user interfaces (no one has done family centric emergency messaging like this) -Use of location based services -Humanitarian benefits

We also have a few other ways we showcase the technology: -Power our application through a larger infrastructure. We aren't just a utility. -Integrate the Android OS with external non-carrier telephony infrastructure

If we successfully pull this off, we will be in a category of our own.

Who will you be working with on this project?

As an early stage startup, LReady team members are scattered across the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of us are part time, some of us full time, and some only work an hour or two a week. Team members have worked throughout the valley, and have degrees from Berkeley, Stanford, and Columbia. Because we are focused on other things, we will be very generous in sharing any prize money if we are fortunate enough to win. We will also give any developer who works with us stock options so you can share in the upside regardless of this challenge.

What do we have already and what do we need?

We have developed a web portal that powers all the non-messaging capabilities. We have the technology and vendors lined up to begin building our telephony platform shortly. We just need you to wrap up the relevant pieces into an Android application.

Timeline: We have people working on the non-mobile software development full time. We are ready to get going on the Android project tomorrow. We want to complete the application shell and interface by the March 3rd deadline even if a lot of the backend is still in development.