Citysourced is an iphone application that empowers citizens to identify civil issues (potholes, graffiti, trash, snow removal, etc.) and report them to city hall for quick resolution – they are calling it a “mobile civic engagement tool”.
Here’s how it works. You know that pothole your car keeps falling into as you try and pull into your driveway? CitySourced can help with that. Pull out your iPhone, snap a pic, select the report type and hit send. CitySourced will geo-tag your picture and send a PDF report to the city council member that handles that district.
Here are all the items that you can tag and report:
- abandoned bicycle or vehicle
- animal services – biting, deceased, not leashed, not permitted, pest control
- driveway cleaning, danger, degradation, obstruction
- graffiti removal
- homeless encampment, nuisance
- illegal dumping/trash, fire/burning
- leaf collection
- parking illegally, illegally in driveway, in red zone, without permit
- parking meter broken, parking sign
- plants/trees danger, degradation, obstruction, overgrown, removal
- roadway cleaning, danger, degradation, obstruction
- sidewalk cleaning, danger, degradation, obstruction
- street light, sign
- trash can/bin broken, removal
- water leak driveway, fire hydrant, sidewalk, street, unknown
- yard waste removal
- other including building code enforcement, noise complaint, property violation, any not listed
Currently there are over 1900 cities in the database and users have the ability to add a city from the CitySourced website. The app is free to download and according to Kurt Daradics, Co-Founder of CitySourced, the way they plan to make money is off of the individual cities.
I think this is a great example of how private companies can leverage technology to improve the bureaucratic inefficiencies of local government while still generating revenue.