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Welcome to the NYSenateMobileApp wiki!

Today we are releasing the beta version of the New York State Senate
mobile app. This is the first major mobile app released by a State
Legislature. This app brings the majority functionality of the
NYSenate.gov site and the Senate’s Open Legislation service to users on
the go, no matter where they are. From finding your Senator using your
current GPS location, to searching legislation or session transcripts,
to watching Senate session video from just hours ago, citizens of New
York State are now just a tap away from their legislature.

The initial beta release if for Android devices, including the Droid,
NexusOne, MyTouch3G, G1, Hero, EVO and others. You can find the app in
the Android Market by searching “nysenate”. Please provide feedback in
the comments section of the app, or report issues by emailing Nathan
Freitas ([email protected]) or using this form:

The iPhone app will be available in the iTunes App Store as soon as we
are approved by Apple. If you would like to have early access to the
iPhone app for testing, you can sign up here: (insert sign up form link
w/ info on providing UDID). A Blackberry application will follow this
summer. Any other mobile device with a web browser can currently visit
http://m.nysenate.gov to access a mobile web version of our Open
Legislation system.

All of the source code for the mobile application is available through
our Github account, released under our dual BSD/GPL licensing scheme*,
at http://github.com/nysenatecio

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• We prefer the GPL, but since this code was written with taxpayer
  money, you are allowed to use the code as freely as you wish, and may
  adopt the BSD licensed version instead. Read on for more licensing
  information below.

Open-Source Software & Software Licenses
In order to make the Senate’s information and software as public as
possible, it is has adopted unique system using two types of licenses -
GNU General Public License as well as the BSD License. This system is
meant to ensure the most public licence is used in each specific case
such that:

(i) Any Software released containing components with preexisting GPL
copyrights must be released pursuant to a GPL v3 copyright restriction.
(ii) Any Software created independently by the Senate without any
preexisting licensing restrictions on any of its components shall be
released under dual licensing and take one of two forms: (a) a BSD
license, or (b) a GPL v3 license. The ultimate user of such Software
shall choose which form of licensing makes the most sense for his or her
project.
(iii) Regarding Software containing preexisting copyright restrictions
other than GPL, the CIO shall make the determination how he or she
wishes to release such Software.

GPL v3: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
BSD: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php