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APPENDIX A: AGENCY INTERVIEWS

Example A

Name: Citizens Connect App

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Link: http://www.cityofboston.gov/doit/apps/citizensconnect.asp

Overview: This simple to use, award winning smart phone app enables residents and visitors of the City of Boston to send issues and problems directly from their iPhones or Android-based devices to the city's work order system. It makes services easily available to constituents, cutting down on the amount of time that elapses between when an issue is reported and sequentially resolved, reducing the City's cost to manage requests & transactions. Initially created to report potholes in the city, citizens can now report issues such as clogged storm drains, excessive jackhammer noise, illegal trash dumping, and faulty street lights, complete with pictures. Reported cases then go directly into the city's work order queue for resolution, and users are informed how quickly the case will be closed. When cases are resolved the date, time of the resolution is listed, providing users with the sense that the city is on the job. Within the application, users are able to publicly share reports they have made, see reports others have shared, and text or use Twitter to publish efforts they have made to improve their neighborhoods making it also a social networking app.

Example B

Name: Street Bump

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Link: http://www.cityofboston.gov/DoIT/apps/streetbump.asp, http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/uploads/46245_32_21_59.pdf

Overview: Street Bump is a mobile app that helps identify potholes by recording "bump" data, providing the City with real-time information to help improve roads. This app's roots came from Citizen Connect. The City was looking for a way to find potholes before they were reported. Initially the information that came from the smart phone devices had many false positives. The City chose to set up a contest to create an algorithm to analyze the information to get more accurate results. From this contest there were three winners; these algorithms are in place now. The app uses a mobile device's accelerometer, or motion sensor, and GPS to detect the tell-tale jolt when a motorist drives over a pothole or sunken manhole cover and pinpoint where it is. By collating the data from drivers and matching it against known speed humps, level crossings and roadworks, sections of road in need of maintenance can easily be identified. 18 Collective Information White Paper Final Report

Example C

Name: CycleTracks

Location: San Francisco, California

Link: http://www.sfcta.org/content/category/4/67/145/,
http://www.sfcta.org/images/stories/IT/SFCHAMP/PDFs/BikeRouteChoiceModel.pdf,
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cycletracks/id338203326?mt=8

Overview: CycleTracks, a tool developed by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, uses your smartphone's GPS support to record your bicycle trips, display maps of your rides, and help transportation planners make San Francisco a better place to bike. At the end of each trip, real-time data representing the trip purpose, route, and the date and time are sent to the Transportation Authority. Planners use the data to improve the bicycle-use component of their computer model and better predict where cyclists will ride and how land development and transportation infrastructure will affect cycling. Users get to see maps and statistics of their rides.

RITA further explored the CycleTracks application in a 2012 study which tested the application in Austin, Texas (8). The study found that despite challenges, the amount of information that could be collected by CycleTracks exceeded what would be able to be collected using other data collection methodologies.

Example D

Name: Spot Reporters

Location: Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Brookline, Massachusetts; and Grand Rapids, Michigan

Link: http://www.connectedbits.com/

Overview: Spot Reporters was designed to integrate seamlessly with existing customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enterprise asset management (EAM) systems, and geographic information systems (GIS). It enables anyone with a mobile phone to report issues they encounter by sending photos, locations, and descriptions directly to Spot Reporters app server. Smartphone users can download apps or use Web, Twitter, or short message service (SMS) clients to report. Four cities have started to use the program: Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Brookline, Massachusetts; and Grand Rapids, Michigan.