In an Australian first, the City of Adelaide has given residents the power to instantly report community concerns – such as graffiti or broken streetlights – with a click of their smartphones.
Using a world-leading technology called CitySourced – available from digital mapping specialists MapData Services – the Adelaide City Council smartphone app lets users send multimedia reports about city maintenance issues directly to Council’s customer service centre.
MapData Services General Manager, Cassandra Barker said that the technology opened up an exciting new channel for residents to assist in cleaning up their communities.
“CitySourced is an incredibly powerful tool that residents can use to send on-the-ground reports about what’s happening in their communities – all in the blink of an eye.
“Users simply capture photos, video or audio of the problem, and then press submit to send the information directly to Council.
“Their reports are geo-tagged to automatically provide the issue’s location, which makes reporting easier for users and increases reliability for service crews.
“The technology also sends the user confirmation that their report has been received and also when the job’s been updated or completed – so it’s increasing accountability and transparency for the Council as well,” said Ms Barker.
The same technology has already been used successfully for similar apps in dozens of major US cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu.
“The fact that Australia has more smartphone users per capita than any other country in the world, besides Singapore, means it’s only a matter of time before these apps start appearing in communities right across the nation,” said Ms Barker.
Adelaide City Council Business Solutions Team Leader Sonjoy Ghosh said that residents were using the app to log a range of issues.
“Users have been including photographs of damaged lighting in the city parklands, right through to design deficiencies in public assets — for example, a tap that is too high for children to reach in a playground.
“It’s been great to see the technology create a positive, collaborative experience that gives citizens a sense of ownership of their community,” said Mr Ghosh.
