Tico Apps

Claudio Umaña always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and last year he got his chance. The 36-year-old electrical engineer got a phone call from an old friend from their time together at Intel in Costa Rica with an idea for a smartphone application. Umaña hopped on an airplane and moved to Barcelona, Spain, soon after to get in on the ground floor.

The app displays animated graphics and maps showing wave height, direction and duration, and data on average wind speed, gust strength and direction.

A new app developed by University of Costa Rica’s National Seismological Network provides confirmed magnitude, depth and location information about earthquakes. The app is available for download at Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

A new app called “Social Help” developed by a group of Costa Rican entrepreneurs will receive support from U.S. businessmen, including CNBC’s Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban. The application allows interaction with professionals such as doctors via videoconference, text chats and games.

Today, BusMaps Costa Rica has 36 routes mapped, covering 250 terminals, 2000 stops and 3,000 active daily users.

A study released this week by the Public Services Regulatory Authority found that 57 of Costa Rica’s 348 gas stations last year failed to fully comply with technical regulations for selling fuel. That means that more than 16 percent of gas stations failed at least one of the national regulations on quality and quantity.