
More than 10k problems fixed through 'Improve Detroit' app - werber
http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2015/10/09/more-than-10000-problems-fixed-through-improve-detroit-cell-phone-app/
======
Animats
New York pioneered this with their 311 phone service. That was originally set
up to get minor problems off of 911, and ended up being the main way citizens
get the city to do something.

With a mobile phone, you can have pictures and geolocation, which helps. It's
a good way to report health and safety violations, because you get pictures.

The real question is, do you get a ticket number you can track? Any support
service where you can't track your requests is more cosmetic than useful.

~~~
jeffwass
The 311 phone service was actually pioneered by Baltimore, not NYC, starting
back in 1996.

~~~
bonyt
Well, NYC has the first 311 app[1] that I'm aware of, so that's pretty cool.

1:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nyc-311/id324897619?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nyc-311/id324897619?mt=8)

~~~
benberkowitz
The app that Detroit was built on, SeeClickFix, came years before the NYC app
and has the added benefit of displaying all other existing open issues.
Detroit and SeeClickFix also support the Federal Open Data Standard, Open311
which is groundbreaking in itself.

------
orf
That's 54 things fixed per day, that's quite a lot. Props to Detroit on making
their data so explorable[1], according to the data[2] it looks like the app is
working.

Also this heatmap[3] absolutely destroys my Firefox.

1\. [https://data.detroitmi.gov/Government/Improve-Detroit-
Submit...](https://data.detroitmi.gov/Government/Improve-Detroit-Submitted-
Issues/fwz3-w3yn)

2\.
[https://data.detroitmi.gov/resource/fwz3-w3yn.json?$select=i...](https://data.detroitmi.gov/resource/fwz3-w3yn.json?$select=issue_type,COUNT%28ticket_id%29%20as%20opened,COUNT%28ticket_closed_date_time%29%20as%20closed&$group=issue_type&$ORDER=opened%20DESC)

2\. [https://data.detroitmi.gov/Government/Improve-Detroit-
Submit...](https://data.detroitmi.gov/Government/Improve-Detroit-Submitted-
Issues-Heat-Map/as66-mrdx)

Edit: That's embarrassing, I originally said 5.4 things fixed a day (which is
not that good)

~~~
rockarage
10,000 plus fixed issues within 6 months does not equal "5.4 fixed issues per
day"

~~~
function_seven
OP clearly meant to say 5.4*10^1 issues per day. :P

------
gwright
I'm happy to answer any tech questions about Improve Detroit.

I'm on the engineering team at SeeClickFix, the vendor partnering with the
City of Detroit to produce Improve Detroit.

Here are some other ways to explore Detroit issues:

Web:
[http://seeclickfix.com/detroit/issues/map](http://seeclickfix.com/detroit/issues/map)

Or you can access the data through the Open311 compliant endpoint:
[http://seeclickfix.com/open311/v2/507/discovery](http://seeclickfix.com/open311/v2/507/discovery)

Or you can use the SeeClickFix API:
[http://seeclickfix.com/api/v2/issues?lat=42.331389&lng=-83.0...](http://seeclickfix.com/api/v2/issues?lat=42.331389&lng=-83.045833)

Our API docs can be found at:
[http://dev.seeclickfix.com](http://dev.seeclickfix.com)

~~~
cbsmith
There seems like a horrible skew in the reports per download. You've got a few
busy-body's creating a lot of complaints...

~~~
icefox
And if you look at the TOP HN commenters you will find a horrible skew of
users that comment on everything while many users hardly ever comment. No
surprises here.

~~~
cbsmith
Is the skew enough that you have more comments than users?

------
psophis
Seattle has a "Find it, Fix it" app [0].

[0]: [http://www.seattle.gov/customer-service-bureau/find-it-
fix-i...](http://www.seattle.gov/customer-service-bureau/find-it-fix-it-
mobile-app)

~~~
sisk
Boston as well[0]. The handful of times I've used it (broken bulb in a stop
light, for example), the issues have been resolved within 24 hours. Pretty
impressive.

[0]:
[http://www.cityofboston.gov/doit/apps/citizensconnect.asp](http://www.cityofboston.gov/doit/apps/citizensconnect.asp)

~~~
psophis
That is impressive. I haven't used the Seattle one yet.

It sounds like City of Boston has the resources to do things as they break or
wear out. They just don't have the man power to check all the light bulbs or
pothole as they break.

~~~
sethhochberg
Makes sense - for something like changing a light bulb, it could easily take a
crew equally as long to drive to the location from wherever they are as it
does to actually make the fix. Having the crew (or someone in general) going
up and down every road every night looking for bulbs to replace would be
horribly inefficient.

------
stevesearer
I wonder what percentage of submitted problems are fixed and how many issues
are repeat problems.

I'm in Santa Barbara and on my walk to work there seems to be a non-stop
battle between some people tagging a foot bridge and the city painting over
the graffiti. Because I enjoy street art this actually brings some added joy
to my commute because I never know what I might see next or how long it will
last. Kind of like a real world Snapchat.

~~~
Nadya
I think you'll enjoy this then:
[http://www.mobstr.org/](http://www.mobstr.org/)

My favorite: [http://www.mobstr.org/red/](http://www.mobstr.org/red/)

(Click next in the bottom right corner, some people miss it! This is the exact
"non-stop battle" sort of thing you're talking about.)

------
suyash
Every city gov needs to issue such kind of app. Congratulations to the folks
in Detroit.

~~~
ams6110
My city has a website for reporting stuff like that. Unfortunately I see no
evidence that it has any effect whatsoever. None of the issues I've reported
have been addressed.

------
kjjw
Reminds me of [http://fixmystreet.com](http://fixmystreet.com) . Similar, for
the whole of the UK.

------
learning_still
I wish we had proper data, like the number of problems fixed before the
introduction of the app. So that we could see how effective the app actually
is.

~~~
jdpedrie
A lot closer to none than 10,000...

------
saurik
For some key background information, I recommend this article from May:
"Detroit Revitalizes City with 311 App".

[http://www.govtech.com/Detroit-Revitalizes-City-
with-311-App...](http://www.govtech.com/Detroit-Revitalizes-City-
with-311-App.html)

------
vortico
Not really related, but why are laymen using the word "app" to describe the
service or company that operates around the mobile app? I hear this commonly:
"Use the Uber app to get to the airport", "I'm a frequent seller on the eBay
app".

------
bestusername111
Fix Detroit: Demolish the shit hole to the ground. Leave it several years and
then rebuild a new small city and see where it goes. I say leave it a few
years because if you rebuild it straight away the same scum is going to
gravitate back and start shit again.

------
tefo-mohapi
Wow. Wondering if this won't have an even bigger impact in African towns /
cities as there are invariably more things to fix? Was it the app that helped
with the fixing or more the city's capacity to respond quickly and fix things?

------
whoiskevin
The App is just SeeClickFix. What is really impressive is that they are fixing
things. I hope they can keep up the pace.

------
preinheimer
Are we only fixing problems rich people with smart phones care about?

~~~
benberkowitz
smartphones have proven to be the number one technology bridging the digital
divide in the US. If you call into the City of Detroit it will also be
publicly documented in the same system: SeeClickFix.

------
josefresco
There were 506 water main breaks that needed to be reported by citizens?

~~~
benberkowitz
Government officials report issues as well!

------
benberkowitz
WOOT WOOT!

