(Jan. 31, 2012)— City and County of Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle today announced the launch of “Honolulu 311,” a new system through which the public may use personal smart phones to report abandoned vehicles, broken street lights, illegal dumping and other issues. CitySourced developed and launched the mobile app for Honolulu.

Carlisle also announced that three fellows from the nonprofit Code for America organization have joined the City for five weeks to help us better connect with the public.

“The Honolulu 311 system will help Honolulu become a lean, clean, smart city through the use of technology,” Carlisle said. “This is one of the goals this administration had envisioned to make city government more user-friendly.”

Besides encouraging the public to help alert City officials about ongoing issues, Honolulu 311 also allows people to submit photographs illustrating these situations, and can pinpoint their locations using smartphone GPS.

Honolulu 311 was activated today, and can be utilized by downloading the app from the app marketplace on a particular smart phone by typing in “Honolulu 311.” The app is available on iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry. CitySourced developed the ‘Honolulu 311′ app in order to help the city and county increase civic engagement.

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The launch of the app comes after the City held a successful “Hackathon” conference two weeks ago. The City’s Department of Information Technology is continuing to develop some of the best applications for implementation later this year.

By: Jason Kiesel

Governments are striving to accomplish more with fewer resources. Additionally, citizens are looking for governments to embrace the gov 2.0 movement, to become more transparent with allocated resources, and to increase communication and feedback. It is a lofty goal, but one that we feel that will increase the effectiveness of government, while also improving citizens’ experience.

CitySourced – Mobile Apps for Public Works

CitySourced is a real time mobile civic engagement platform; By providing free mobile apps, we allow citizens to report non-emergency issues back to City Hall. By identifying these civic issues (public safety, quality of life, & environmental issues, etc.) with a smartphone, citizens are able to snap a photo, shoot video or record audio and easily report issues directly to the city’s appropriate department. In addition, our mobile reports provide additional data points about the problem, most specifically the GPS location. From these reports, the city can then respond direct to the user to keep citizens informed of all progress.

CitySourced Beginnings

FreedomSpeaks.com was conceptualized n Nov. 2006 and eventually launched in March 2008 as non-partisan political social network allowing its members to quickly and easily write letters to their publicly elected officials. In the summer of 2009, our team created the original CitySourced mobile application. Very shortly afterwards in September 2009, we officially launched the CitySourced product at the 2009 TechCrunch50. Fortunately, we’re able to work with some great partners, such as Microsoft, IBM, and ESRI, who have helped us tremendously along the way.

CrowdSourcing the Public Sector

Between Wikipedia, Kickstarter, and many others, crowdsourcing has delivered some amazing solutions; we want to apply the same magic to the public sector. We think we’re pretty unique in applying this model to the public and encouraging civic engagement. While we currently focus on public works issues, our vision is to ultimately transform civic engagement. By energizing citizens around public issues, we hope to further connections between the two groups. That’s our hope.

CrowdSourcing Drives Our Development

From our early beginnings, we have focused relentlessly on developing our app for iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows 7. While that may seem like technical issue to most, to us it is core to our offering. We realize that we have to be accessible across as many different platforms as possible if we want to include everyone in our crowdsourcing efforts. Mobile development on so many different platforms and devices can cause a headache, but it’s super important for us to be as open and accesible as possible.

Note: This article first appeared on Crowdsourcing.org

Author Info: Jason Kiesel is Founder and CEO of CitySourced. Prior to launching CitySourced, Jason operated Kiesel Media Group, a web development company which architected and developed CommerceComposer, a highly scalable e-commerce platform. Additionally, Jason has been hired as a software engineering consultant for Fortune 500 companies such as MySpace, Disney, Transamerica, & Universal.

GovFresh recently completed its 2011 GovFresh Awards and CitySourced won Best Civic Start-up and tied for App of the Year. The awards showcase all of the city and local leadership and great civic technology work that’s been developed throughout the year. The GFAs strive to highlight the best and brightest, help better connect citizens with government, provide city and local governments better visibility to into best practices and emerging technology, and create a general conversation around how government and citizens can make government great.

Voting/Judging Process

1. Anyone could submit an entry.
2. Anyone could vote on submissions.
3. Judges selected winners from the top five vote-getters in each category. Vote Totals are available here.

Winners

• City of the Year: New York City / Runners-up (tie): Chicago, Philadelphia)
• Public Servant of the Year: Matthew Esquibel (Austin, TX) / Runner-up: Mackenzie Kelly(Austin, TX)
• Citizen of the Year: Adriel Hampton
• Best Government/Citizen Collaboration: OpenDataPhilly / Runner-up: City of Austin, TX
• Best Use of Open Source: Chicago Lobbyists / Runner-up: DistrictBuilder
• Best Open and Participatory Budgeting Initiative: Norfolk, VA / Runner-up: 49th Ward Participatory Budgeting (Chicago)
• Best Open Government Policy: Open Government Initiative
• Best Open Data Platform: OpenDataPhilly / Runner-up: NYC OpenData
• Best Civic Hackathon: Hack4Reno / Runner-up: Education Hack Day (Baltimore)
• Best Civic Start-up: CitySourced / Runner-up: ElectNext
• Best Use of Social Media: New York City / Runner-up (tie): Williamson County, TX,Philadelphia
• Best Use of Social Media for Emergency Management: Williamson County, TX / Runner-up: New York City
• Best Transit App: ReRoute.it / Runner-up: Septa.mobi
• Best Emergency Management App: CiviGuard – Irene App / Runner-up: NYC Readiness Challenge
• Best Social Services App: Sheltr

Thanks to entire GovFresh team, Judges, and our supportive user base!

Los Angeles – December 19, 2011 – CitySourced, a location based mobile reporting platform and the leader in mobile civic engagement, announced today that it has closed $1.33 million in a Series A round of financing. The capital will be used to continue product development as well as accelerate sales and marketing efforts.

Greg Baird was nice enough to reference CitySourced in this thought leadership piece focusing on U.S. Water Infrastructure.

One powerful trend is GIS combined with smart phones to offer public organisations a low cost, citizen driven “311″ system. For example, Los Angeles and San Francisco and others have embraced CitySourced, a real time mobile civic engagement platform. CitySourced allows citizens to identify civic issues like water main breaks and report them to city hall/utility for quick resolution with a tracking mechanism. Leveraging GIS, work order integrated breakthrough provides government with an opportunity to use technology to save time and money plus improve accountability to those they govern.

To read more Click Here

Our friends at Tech Cocktail wrote a new blog post about CitySourced.

Here’s an excerpt, ” The Los Angeles-based startup lets users submit video, audio, or photo evidence of local issues related to public safety or the environment: on the app, I saw reports on graffiti, a car that was broken into, and illegal left turns at an intersection.”

To read more…(Click Here)

Harford County residents now have a more high-tech way of reporting potholes, dead animals, flooding or other problems to the county government. Residents with smartphones can get a new mobile app called “Harford County Connect” to inform county officials of their public issues. The mobile app, unveiled by Harford County Executive David Craig, allows users to take photos, record video and audio of a problem, and automatically provide GPS coordinates. After the report is submitted, users can track all reported problems on a map as well.

 

The app is available for the Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows smartphones. The website, where residents can also report problems directly without a smartphone, is http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/CitySourced.

“Today is another milestone in Harford County,” county spokesman Bob Thomas said. “This is another step in Harford County’s continuing effort… for open and responsive county government.”

Residents can file complaints about issues including animals, street flooding, graffiti, homeless concerns, illegal dumping, illegal burning, illegal signs, tree concerns, potholes, road debris, street light or street sign concerns, trash removal, untagged vehicles, water leak, yard waste or building code enforcement and noise complaints. The issues will primarily be handled by constituent services coordinators Jane Walker and Patricia Gonzalez before they are routed to appropriate departments.

ADDITIONAL PRESS

• Baltimore Sun
• Corridor Inc.
• The Dagger Press

Our partners at Esri invited us to join them in their booth at the National League of Cities Conference again this year.

We attended last year in Denver, and this year was a much different vibe. There was a palpable buzz from the attendees, many which were newly elected.

Also, lots of clients were in attendance, and we had fun being able to spend more time with them.

Kurt Daradics, Co-Founder at CitySourced with Client #1, Councilman Pete Constant with the City of San Jose.

Note: This Article will not be maintained or updated. For the most up to date instructions see our Knowledge Base Article. 

In addition to our mobile apps and web forms, CitySourced customers can create a custom Facebook App to allow citizens to report new issues directly from Facebook. This how-to tutorial provides a step-by-step guide to create a tab on a Facebook page for reporting new issues directly within Facebook. Follow this easy three step process to create your own version.

Note: In order complete this guide you will need to have access to the CitySourced Customer Console and be an administrator for the Facebook Page in which you plan to add this tab. Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Step 1: Create Widget Code

Login to CitySourced Console, by going to www.console.citysourced.com

Click on ‘Widgets’ Tab

On ‘Widgets’ Tab, make sure the following options are selected:

• Create Report radio button
• Width & Height: 600px by 600px
• Map Type: Road

Next, click ‘Generate’ button in order to generate the necessary code. Select all of this code and Copy it.

Step 2: Add Facebook App

Login in to Facebook.com and type “static html” into the top search bar.
Select the “Static HTML: iframe tabs” Facebook app.

On the app page, Click the ‘Add to My Page’ link.

In the pop-up box, click ‘Add to My Page’ button for your page.

Step 3: Customize Appearance

Go to your Facebook Page and click on the ‘Welcome’ Tab.

In the top box. paste all the code for your widget, copied in Step 1.

For the widget the to fit properly in Facebook, you need to adjust the width and height. The width should equal 510px and height should equal 700px. Do not make any other changes to the code or the widget will break. Leave the bottom box empty.

After editing the code, click ‘Save and view tab….’ button. Then, click ‘View your tab as a non-fan’ link. Note, as the page administrator you will always see this editing information. However, your fans will always see the tab correctly.

Your Facebook Tab is done! To create a new issue, enter the address directly into the address box or drop a pin on the map, select the report type, and then add either a written description or upload an image file.

Want CitySourced in your community? Contact Us for more information and to schedule a demo.

Additional Info

To change to the title of your Facebook Tab,click ‘Edit Info’ link from your Facebook Page.
Select the ‘Apps’ from the left hand menu column.
Under ‘Static HTML: iframe tabs’, click ‘Edit Settings’ link.
Enter your tab name, such as Report Issue, in the ‘Custom Tab Name:’ text box and click ‘Save’.

Leave Questions in Comments Section. 

Our friends at Wired were kind enough to highlight our involvement in Microsoft BizSpark and our Windows Phone 7 App.

“It’s never easy being a third-party app developer. Besides needing a great app idea, you must master your platform’s SDK, and then work hard to make sure your app has visibility in whatever platform ecosystem you’ve chosen to infiltrate. Enter Microsoft’s BizSpark program, which helps software devs bring their apps to market.

One of the program’s major initiatives is Mobile Acceleration Week, a multi-city road show that’s designed to give guidance and support to Windows Phone Mango developers. Last week, the event was held in San Francisco, so we dropped by to hunt for the latest, greatest Windows Phone apps coming down the pike. Here are 10 of the most promising. Just be aware that not all are currently available in Marketplace.”

CitySourced
A large number of apps for any platform will be frivolous, so it’s nice when a useful, productive tool comes along that helps you take an active role in bettering your community.

CitySourced is one such app. It’s a real-time civic-engagement platform that allows you to report on, and read reports relating to, issues like public safety, damage to public property, and environmental problems like illegal dumping. You can even take pictures of the offending issue to include in your report. The app delivers these reports to your local city hall so authorities can (theoretically) take quick action.

CitySourced lets you write a new report, check out your past reports, and view issues documented by others for your city, by list view or map view. You can also check out local news.

In addition to helping you serve your civic duty, this app could also come in handy if you’re looking to move to a low crime area, which could perhaps be indicated by fewer instances of graffiti and tagging. It might also be a good choice if you’re looking for a part of town to perform community service in.

To read more…