I’ve been wanting something like this for awhile now, and glad some city finally did it (I just wish it were Dallas): an iPhone app that lets residents snap photos of nuisances and code violations and send them off to city hall (geo-tagged, no less).
Pittsburgh beat us to the punch, but there’s no need for Dallas to be left out of the tech party. With our city’s budget cuts, anything we can do to make city services run more efficiently is welcome, especially when the City Manager has proposed cutting 311 from 24 hours/day to 7am-7pm daily.
Anyone who sees a code violation can snap a pic, upload, and be done with it, without having to (a) sit on hold with a 311 operator forever or (b) remember all the relevant location/violation info for later input into the 311 website (assuming you don’t forget).
And no more confusion about incorrect addresses (look at picture; compare to reality; done). Plus, the city’s got tangible evidence of an alleged violation and can evaluate the problem before going out to investigate.
I like this on lots of levels and will be asking our City Manager to investigate. But I want a Blackberry version, too.
ANGELA HUNT 