Question: Team Members Full Names:
Answer: Juan Alberto Sanchez Rosario Laura Marian Guerrero Guerrero Blas Ignacio Hernández Sánchez Gerardo José Herrera Santander

Question: Mentor:
Answer: Marcel Mauricio Molina Monsalve

Question: Title of Project:
Answer: Mi Ciudad (Interactive System to Manage City Planning)

Question: Project Overview:
Answer: My City (Mi Ciudad) is an interactive system that tries to educate, entertain and create conscience about our environment. To do this, the application offers to the users the challenge to build and maintain a city with all real features and troubles; the user has to decide how to improve the citizen’s quality of live with the minor damage to the environment. Through this application we are trying to create an impact in each one of the users, in such way that they are able to associate the problems shown in the system with the real problems present at their communities; having the hope that many of the solutions that the users obtain in the game can be applied in their lives, in this way the project would complete its fundamental goal.

Question: Technology/Software Used:
Answer: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Microsoft IIS 7

Question: Inspiration: What inspired your team to enter the Microsoft Imagine Cup and why did you choose the Software Design competition?
Answer: The biggest inspiration was received from our professors, tutors and advisors of the project, because they were from the beginning helping us in how to focus and canalize those ideas we had at that time. We live in a little town of approximately 60.000 people and our university has almost 10.000 students from all the region, so, we don’t really have a big city, and we don’t want it to have environmental issues, this way, one day we were thinking how our knowledge could help San Cristobal to have a sustainable environment and at the same time influence in people’s lives around the world, then My City project was born. A system that simulates the problems we see all days in our cities and allows us to solve them.

Question: Team History: How did your team meet?
Answer: All of us (the members of the team) met in the University (UNET), we are studying informatic engineering. We met the tutor in the University, he teach us several subjects. Gerardo, Juan and Blas start their university studies at the same time at beginning of the year 2005, and Laura starts his university studies at the end of the same year. We besides classmates also are good friends, and this was very important for the success of the team.

Question: Team Experience: What experience did your team have with Software Design before competing in the Imagine Cup?
Answer: At the University, from the first day, the Informatics Engineering Students get involved with programming, at the beginning the professors teach the basics, but during the curse of the career they increase the level and is good for us to demonstrate to the world what we have learn all this time. The 4 team members are in our last career years, so you could say that we have all the needed knowledge to face any challenge. Winning the national competition was, out of doubts, an unforgettable experience for each one of us, but it was even more to see the recognition that we have had during this time, the congratulations from our partners and the proud of the University; we are very happy of being able to carry very high the name of our house of studies and our country, is gratifying to see how the efforts are recompensed in a special way, without thinking a lot in the competition we will have in Egypt, we are already winners. Ensuring environmental sustainability is the millennium goal that inspired us, seeing how the environment gets deteriorated along time and how the government policies aren’t enough to reverse the ecosystem destruction are things that make us think about solutions. But the truth is that in our hands aren´t the resources to develop this ideas; so, our project arises looking for the way to locate the people in a place where he can apply measures to solve city problems without harming the environment.

Question: Highlights: What has been the best part of the Imagine Cup competition to date?
Answer: Winning the national competition was, out of doubts, an unforgettable experience for each one of us, but it was even more to see the recognition that we have had during this time, the congratulations from our partners and the proud of the University; we are very happy of being able to carry very high the name of our house of studies and our country, is gratifying to see how the efforts are recompensed in a special way, without thinking a lot in the competition we will have in Egypt, we are already winners.

Question: Inspiration: How did your team come up with your submission? Include which Millennium Development Goal inspired your solution.
Answer: Ensuring environmental sustainability is the millennium goal that inspired us, seeing how the environment gets deteriorated along time and how the government policies aren’t enough to reverse the ecosystem destruction are things that make us think about solutions. But the truth is that in our hands aren´t the resources to develop this ideas; so, our project arises looking for the way to locate the people in a place where he can apply measures to solve city problems without harming the environment.

Question: Challenges: What personal or technological challenges did your team face while developing your submission?
Answer: The greatest personal challenge has been to resign to our free time to donate it to the development of our idea, taking to a side the personal interests to integrate a team where each one is a fundamental piece. The principal technological challenge was work with new computing tools like Microsoft Expression Studio 2 and new technologies like AJAX and Web Services, but with online help, the help of our advisers and excellent tutor, our doubts and troubles were solved.

Question: Future Plans: What does your team plan on doing after the Worldwide Finals in Cairo, Egypt? Do you plan to use your project to launch a new business?
Answer: As a team, we would like that the project extends in time but also to reach a lot of people and if that implies to create a company, a foundation or an organization, as a team we are arranged to deal with that challenge. We want that the project teaches and demonstrates to all people in the world that technological tools today are more important in order to guarantee a good future.

Question: Links to more information (i.e. website, blog):
Answer: http://miciudad.unet.edu.ve