I think this app would actually be usable in my campaign to realize a clean downtown Morgantown. This app will be used to augment the surveillance camera system in the city. Cameras can't be everywhere, but citizens can. Rather than come up with three separate apps, I will propose an app that has (at least) three functions.
The name is still in progress - I originally came up with "Citizen Response and Pictures" (C.R.A.P), and then came up with "Turd Alert". Since I envision several uses for this app, probably a more refined name will be in order for the whole app, and "Turd Alert"may just be the name for the portion that tracks dog droppings.
What I propose is a crowd-sourced app that will allow users to photograph what errant dog walkers leave behind, and also other sidewalk conditions and safety situations. The app will be made available on the Morgantown City website and among other places,
as a QR code on all the main poster locations in Morgantown, such as near the metal bench and pay phones on High Street, on Spruce Street near the Farmer's Market site, and on the corner of South High Street and Pleasant Street and a new sign near the Walnut Street Bridge. The QR code will lead to Apple and Google Play app stores for download.
The app will be geared towards Morgantown residents, student and otherwise, as well as downtown shop owners. The app I have seen that this resembles most is Waze, which is a community based GPS maps and navigation app. That app collects information from user drivers to report accidents, traffic jams, speed and police traps anonymously, and to help find the best price of fuel in the driver's area. It offers turn by turn navigation and real time traffic alerts. Waze also invented something called Connected Citizen Program which allows data exchange with government officials who can react in real time. 911 systems rely on the data.
This app will focus on awareness and gamification. The awareness is both on the part of the participating citizens, who become aware of unclean or unsafe conditions downtown, and on the part of the responders to the conditions, Casey and his cleaning crew and the police department or Public Safety office.
The gamification will come into play (pun intended) with the feed back from the responders. After each situation is responded to and resolved, the initiator of the awareness report will receive points or a virtual token. After a certain number of points, initially probably a small number like 10, the initiator will receive a digital "Good Citizen" award. After five Good Citizen awards, the initiator will receive a digital coupon from a grateful Morgantown business for a free cup of coffee or coke or a discount at a restaurant. Subsequent rewards may come at greater intervals and be of greater worth.
The user of the app, the initiator, will open the app, take a picture of the offending item, hit a "report" button, and then choose one category from a drop down of three or four categories for the picture. The picture will show up on the appropriate category map. The maps will show GPS locations for all offending items. Multiple photos of the same location will result in another number being added to the marker on the map for the item.
This way there are metrics for the most traveled and most abused locations. Casey and his crew can monitor the maps on their phones and a cleaner can be sent to a location, already having a picture of what to expect once they get there. This will also keep track of the work that the cleaners do on a daily basis. Each cleaner will have a different color or similar way of knowing who responded to a call, so that each individual's work can be given credit for.
To prevent initiators from claiming undeserved rewards, the computer will not allow a picture to be accepted for the same location for the same initiator within a three hour period. If the offending item has not been cleaned up in that time already, it is fair game for another photo. To prevent initiators from taking photos of random items just to run up the numbers, either the computer can use visual digital validation for items, or Mechanical Turk from Amazon could be utilized.
One drop down for the report button can be "Turd Alert", one can address other cleanliness issues such as vomit or trash, both of these going to the cleaning crew, and one can report unsafe situations or individuals to authorities. A network of involved citizens and city workers will be knit into a symbiotic whole.
The name is still in progress - I originally came up with "Citizen Response and Pictures" (C.R.A.P), and then came up with "Turd Alert". Since I envision several uses for this app, probably a more refined name will be in order for the whole app, and "Turd Alert"may just be the name for the portion that tracks dog droppings.
What I propose is a crowd-sourced app that will allow users to photograph what errant dog walkers leave behind, and also other sidewalk conditions and safety situations. The app will be made available on the Morgantown City website and among other places,
as a QR code on all the main poster locations in Morgantown, such as near the metal bench and pay phones on High Street, on Spruce Street near the Farmer's Market site, and on the corner of South High Street and Pleasant Street and a new sign near the Walnut Street Bridge. The QR code will lead to Apple and Google Play app stores for download.The app will be geared towards Morgantown residents, student and otherwise, as well as downtown shop owners. The app I have seen that this resembles most is Waze, which is a community based GPS maps and navigation app. That app collects information from user drivers to report accidents, traffic jams, speed and police traps anonymously, and to help find the best price of fuel in the driver's area. It offers turn by turn navigation and real time traffic alerts. Waze also invented something called Connected Citizen Program which allows data exchange with government officials who can react in real time. 911 systems rely on the data.
This app will focus on awareness and gamification. The awareness is both on the part of the participating citizens, who become aware of unclean or unsafe conditions downtown, and on the part of the responders to the conditions, Casey and his cleaning crew and the police department or Public Safety office.
The gamification will come into play (pun intended) with the feed back from the responders. After each situation is responded to and resolved, the initiator of the awareness report will receive points or a virtual token. After a certain number of points, initially probably a small number like 10, the initiator will receive a digital "Good Citizen" award. After five Good Citizen awards, the initiator will receive a digital coupon from a grateful Morgantown business for a free cup of coffee or coke or a discount at a restaurant. Subsequent rewards may come at greater intervals and be of greater worth.
The user of the app, the initiator, will open the app, take a picture of the offending item, hit a "report" button, and then choose one category from a drop down of three or four categories for the picture. The picture will show up on the appropriate category map. The maps will show GPS locations for all offending items. Multiple photos of the same location will result in another number being added to the marker on the map for the item.
This way there are metrics for the most traveled and most abused locations. Casey and his crew can monitor the maps on their phones and a cleaner can be sent to a location, already having a picture of what to expect once they get there. This will also keep track of the work that the cleaners do on a daily basis. Each cleaner will have a different color or similar way of knowing who responded to a call, so that each individual's work can be given credit for.
To prevent initiators from claiming undeserved rewards, the computer will not allow a picture to be accepted for the same location for the same initiator within a three hour period. If the offending item has not been cleaned up in that time already, it is fair game for another photo. To prevent initiators from taking photos of random items just to run up the numbers, either the computer can use visual digital validation for items, or Mechanical Turk from Amazon could be utilized.
One drop down for the report button can be "Turd Alert", one can address other cleanliness issues such as vomit or trash, both of these going to the cleaning crew, and one can report unsafe situations or individuals to authorities. A network of involved citizens and city workers will be knit into a symbiotic whole.
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