San Francisco unveiled the government app store today, as part of a bold effort to capitalise on the city's world-class reputation for tech innovation.
The west coast city is home to a long list of new media and tech companies including Twitter, Bebo, Flickr, Wikipedia, Craigslist and many others as well as entertainment giants such as Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic.
The city is hoping the will improve "transparency", and make use of city data that would otherwise languish in storage.
At the same time, the local government is also hoping to engage the many highly skilled workers who reside in the city by enabling them to create their own apps using open-source technology.
The apps on offer include a map of crimes, health inspection scores for restaurants and EveryBlock, which publishes news for every block in San Francisco.
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