The Microburbs Geo Hackathon
48 hours to build something brilliant with Australia's richest property dataset. 141 data points. Two full SA2 regions. $5,000 in cash prizes. Then one week to show the world what you made.
Build weekend: 1-3 May 2026 | Promotion week: 4-11 May 2026
A Real Dataset. A Real Challenge.
Most hackathons hand you toy data or ask you to prompt an LLM. This one gives you 141 genuine property and liveability data points across two complete SA2 regions, drawn from Australia's largest independent property database of over 90 million listings. Your job: find the most interesting story in the data and tell it to the world.
Who is this for? Data scientists, analysts, developers, urban planners, students, property researchers, and anyone who can write code and enjoys making sense of real-world data. Individuals or teams of up to four.
What You Get
Full Microburbs data for two SA2 regions. Street-level and pocket-level granularity. Updated weekly. Covering 16 categories and 141 individual data points.
Property Market10 points
- Smart Median Price and Rent
- 10-Year Growth and Forecasts
- Gross Yield and Days on Market
- Stock on Market and Vacancy Rate
- Land Value per Square Metre
Demographics21 points
- Population, Growth, and Projections
- Income Distribution (Top/Bottom 25%)
- Migration (Internal and Overseas)
- Workforce Composition
- Household and Family Structure
Safety and Crime9 points
- Total Violent Crime and Assault
- Domestic Violence Rates
- Drug Offences
- Night Time Safety Score
- Overall Safety Score
Natural Hazards7 points
- Bushfire Prone Area Classification
- Flood Risk and Distance
- Coastal Erosion Risk
- Development Restrictions Index
Education3 points
- School Catchment Boundaries
- Average Childcare Rating
- Education Score
Social and Wellbeing13 points
- Community, Lifestyle, and Family Scores
- Mortgage Stress and Welfare Dependency
- Homelessness and Healthcare Coverage
- Addiction and Alienation Indices
Employment9 points
- Business Activity Index
- Industry Diversity Score
- Top Professions and Industries
- Jobseeker and Pension Data
Housing11 points
- Residential Density and Zoning
- Bedroom Averages and Persons per Room
- Rental and Sale Turnover Rates
- Mortgage as Percentage of Income
Transport8 points
- Distance to CBD, Beach, and Nearest Hub
- Public Transport Walkability
- Commuter Mode Split (Car, Bike, Walk)
- Mobile Blackspots
Environment12 points
- Climate Score and Temperature Data
- Noise Score and Tranquility Score
- Parkland Proportion and Elevation
- EV Charger Access
Land Use and Zoning4 points
- Commercial and Industrial Zoning
- Heritage Zoning
- Property Zone Classification
Culture and Socioeconomic12 points
- Affluence Score and Gini Coefficient
- Hip Score and Hip Venues
- Conservatism Score
- Languages and Diversity
Development2 points
- Recent Development Applications
- Development Restrictions Index
Population Dynamics3 points
- Net Internal and Overseas Migration
- Resident Retention Index
ValuationBonus
- MicroVal automated valuations (6% error rate)
- Capital Growth Forecasts (weekly)
- Smart Median algorithms
How It Works
Three phases. One weekend to build. One week to promote. Winners announced based on both the quality of the work and the traction it earns.
Register and Prepare
Register as an individual or a team of up to four. On 1 May you receive the full dataset: two SA2 regions with 141 data points at street and pocket level. Use any language, framework, or tool you like.
Build
You have 48 hours to build your analysis, visualisation, tool, or research piece. The format is open: interactive dashboards, research papers, data visualisations, web apps, predictive models, or something we have not thought of. Submit your project by Sunday 3 May at 11:59pm AEST.
Promote
Publish your project publicly. Write a blog post, push to GitHub, share on LinkedIn, post a Twitter thread, or submit to a subreddit. The more people who see your work, the better. Traction counts toward your final score. All public links must acknowledge Microburbs as the data source.
Winners Announced
The judging panel scores all entries. Winners announced on the Microburbs blog, social channels, and directly to participants. Top performers invited to interview at Microburbs.
Cash Prizes
$5,000 in total. Paid directly. No vouchers, no strings.
Bonus: The top five performers will be invited to interview for roles at Microburbs. We built this company on open data, and we want to work with people who can make that data sing.
How Entries Are Judged
Every entry is scored across four equally weighted criteria.
Originality means ask a question nobody else thought to ask. Combine datasets in unexpected ways. Challenge conventional wisdom. Find the pattern everyone missed.
Analytical Rigour means your methodology holds up under scrutiny. Show your working. Acknowledge your assumptions. Do not cherry-pick.
Presentation means your work is clear, readable, and visually polished. A beautiful chart that tells a story beats a wall of numbers.
Traction means real engagement with your published work. AI makes the execution phase of a data project faster than ever. Building something good is table stakes now. The harder skill is getting people to care about it. We want participants who think end-to-end: from raw data to published insight to real-world audience.
The Rules
Keep it fair. Keep it public. Keep it linked.
✅ Required
- All submissions must use the provided Microburbs dataset
- You may supplement with any publicly available data (ABS, government, etc.)
- All published work must credit "Data: Microburbs (microburbs.com.au)" with a hyperlink
- GitHub repositories must include a Microburbs attribution and link in the README
- Blog posts, articles, and social threads must link to microburbs.com.au
- Submit by 11:59pm AEST on Sunday 3 May (build phase) and 11:59pm AEST on Sunday 11 May (promotion phase)
- Teams of 1-4 people
❌ Not Allowed
- Redistributing the raw Microburbs dataset
- Using the data for any commercial product or service without permission
- Removing or obscuring the Microburbs attribution on any public output
- Submitting work that was started before the build weekend begins
- Plagiarising or misrepresenting another team's work
On traction as a judging criterion: We know this is unusual for a hackathon. We are being upfront about why. AI has made the execution phase of data projects dramatically faster. Building something is no longer the hard part. The hard part is thinking end-to-end: from raw data, to a genuine insight, to an audience that cares. That is the skill we want to develop and reward. Promotion is not an afterthought. It is part of the craft. If this feels too commercial, note that traction is 25% of the total score. A brilliant, rigorous analysis with modest promotion will still beat a shallow piece that goes viral.
Ready to Build?
Registrations close 30 April 2026. Data drops 1 May. Build weekend starts immediately.