The Bay Area Bike Share program launched a contest earlier this week for designers and programmers to present data from bicycle trips in an informative and creative way.

The Open Data Challenge is collaborating with San Francisco-based design studio Stamen Design, which specializes in maps and data graphics, to encourage users to come up with innovative ideas for sharing information about the nearly 150,000 bike trips completed since the program launched last year.

Entries should reveal new or interesting trends about bicycle trips and may include maps, animations, interactive websites or static graphics, according to Bay Area Air Quality Management District spokesman Tom Flannigan.

“The ultimate goal is to create something that further tells the story of the bike-share program and how it’s evolved over time,” Flannigan said.

Data include the bike-tracking numbers, trip start and end times, trip start and end stations, and rider types, as well as weather conditions and bike and dock availability per station.

Contest categories include best overall visualization, best presentation, best analysis, best data exploration tool and best data narrative. Local transportation officials and design professionals will judge the contest.

“We’ll take in all of the submissions and may go forward with one of them, or we might come up with a hybrid version to put live on our website,” Flannigan said.

Contestants must be 18 and over and may submit up to three entries. Submissions are due by April 25.

The Bay Area Bike Share program launched Aug. 29 in five Bay Area cities: San Francisco, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose.Bay Area Air Quality Management DistrictBay Area Bike ShareBay Area NewsOpen Data ChallengeTransittransportation