An initiative by Civic Commons is set to establish Open311 as the global open standard for civic issue tracking. Open311 is an API that will interface with local authority CRM systems, and enable applications developed independently then to link in with the CRM. It is also one of the elements that we will be working with during Developing Solutions Camp.
Yes its new
Being a relatively new piece of software, many developers may not be familiar with Open311, so here are some pointers to help you get your head around the concept and the way it can work.
How does it work?
As the Open 311 website here describes, US city authorities like Baltimore currently lead the way in development using Open311. However it is working its way into the geek consciousness in the UK with MySociety’s FixMyStreet being the application that most people have heard about. Any person with FixMyStreet on their smartphone can upload a description and image of an issue they want to report to the council. The issue will then be automatically routed to the correct department of the correct authority. This image shows the user interface for an issue that was logged by a member of the public, and reported to the appropriate council just 5 minutes later.
Show me some examples
We hope that some of the ideas submitted will provide the basis for prototypes of applications using Open311. The list of applications that support the GeoReport v2 standard can be found between these two pages: Open Source Codebases and Products & Services.
Over to you!
Do you want to design or develop a prototype on how people can help each other. Check out our competition and here and sign up to our event!
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