We asked new 311 iPhone app Commons co-founder Suzanne Kirkpatrick to share her thoughts on the new venture, 311 and trends in open government and Gov 2.0.
TechPresident’s Becky Kazansky has a great overview of Commons, a new 311 iPhone app that makes use of gaming and social features to better engage citizens.
The city council of St. Charles, Missouri has launched Discover St. Charles, a YouTube channel that delivers department updates to citizens using short video clips.
YouTown is a mobile application that wants to make it easier for you to access your local government information all in one place.
Blockboard is the latest start-up building a location-based mobile application that aims to give you a hyperlocal view into everything happening in your neighborhood.
GovFreshTV talked with Routesy founder and developer Steven Peterson about his experiences creating the app and asked him to share his advice to civic developers and government.
Zonability founder Leigh Budlong discusses her work, challenges with open data, thoughts on Gov 2.0 and shares lessons-learned advice to other civic developers.
San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District Chief Richard Price shares the latest on a new app that links trained volunteers with heart attack victims using GPS-enabled smart phones.
Public servants, developers and entrepreneurs gathered together to discuss and learn about the civic value of open data and how the City of San Francisco and private citizens are leveraging this opportunity at sf.govfresh, Sept. 1, at Adobe Systems’ San Francisco offices. Speakers included San Francisco Chief Information Officer Chris Vein, Mom Maps Founder & CEO Jill Seman, San Francisco Department of Technology Director of Innovation Jay Nath, Stamen Partner Michal Migurski, Routesy Founder Steven Peterson and SF Environment Internet Communications Coordinator Lawrence Grodeska.
YourGov is a free 311 iPhone app from Cartegraph that helps citizens easily forward their observations and concerns to local governments. YourGOV users can submit issues — such as such as potholes, fallen trees, vandalism, and street light outages — complete with location, unique details, and photos. Once submitted, YourGOV will automatically deliver requests to the appropriate participating government agency.
Everyday Banter created a parody video of the new White House iPhone app. (HT OhMyGov!)
Best line: “Haven’t heard from Obama in the last six minutes and need to make sure he’s still in charge? There’s an app for that.”
SeeClickFix lets citizens report public works issues such as potholes, graffiti, and wayward trash directly from their iPhones, the SeeClickFix Website or other sites using its embeddable widget. Citizens can create watch lists to follow what’s being reported in a particular area, comment and vote up or down other issue reports and get ‘Civic Points’ for their participation. Governments can use the service as a 311 work order management system and media outlets can integrate the reporting widget and map into their Websites for enhanced reader interaction.
The White House launched a free White House App for the iPhone. The app delivers livestream video from speeches and press briefings, blog updates and latest official White House photos. Citizens will be able to watch the upcoming State of the Union speech directly from their iPhones.
You can download the White House app at iTunes. Details at the White House Blog.
CitySourced is a free iPhone application that lets citizens immediately report civic woes directly to their local government. Users take a photo, select report type, add comments and send. The incident is then directed to the appropriate department. You can download CitySourced here.
Sunlight Foundation released a free Real Time Congress iPhone app now available at iTunes. Real Time Congress includes live floor updates, key document information, Whip notices and hearing schedules. More on the release here. See also Sunlight’s Android app, ‘Congress.’
EcoFinder is a free iPhone app that helps San Francisco residents and businesses find recycle locations throughout the city, including electronics, appliance and matresses. Users can filter drop-off/pick-up options by free or pay services.
EcoFinder was created using open data from SF Environment as part of San Francisco’s open data initiative and developed by Haku Wale in partnership with SF Environment, Nextive and AdMob.
CDTA iRide on your iPhone makes getting around on CDTA buses a breeze. This trip planner covers bus service in Albany, Schenectady, Troy and Saratoga Counties in New York.
CDTA iRide features include a bus system trip planner, scheduled arrival data, system advisories, system and area maps, location of nearest bus stops, search for bus stops, browsing stops by route, CDTA phone numbers and links.
Mobile democracy: How governments can promote equality, participation and customer service
There’s a lot more to democratic government than holding elections and town hall meetings.