(BUMP) - The City Of Boston Is Listening To Your Complaints - With An App
by Mark Tadros
March 2, 2010
The City of Boston has been busy getting its legion of iPhone owners together to report graffiti, potholes, and malfunctioning traffic lights to the Constituent Relationship Management System (CRM) with their Citizens Connect app. The CRM is responsible for tracking reports and complaints from the community and assigning service teams to resolve them.
In an effort to improve on the user experience and possibly get more people involved, the soon to be released Boston Urban Mechanic Profiler (BUMP) app will utilize the iPhone's accelerometer and GPS antenna, allowing you to "bump" your road-related grievances to city officials.
The technology is analogous to Bump Technologies' Bump app, which allows users to exchange photos and contact information by bumping fists with their phones. Similarly, motorists, bicyclists, and even pedestrians will be able to report their road condition gripes to the CRM with a gentle nudge of the phone.
Boston's city officials are also considering equipping city workers with BUMP to cover destitute neighborhoods, where the iPhone population is at a minimum to make sure all areas are reported.
Now, if only the City of New York could come up with something like this, yesterday's flat tire could have been avoided!
[via The Boston Globe]