Civic Technology

An Android app for Chicago cyclists that recorded and anonymously reported their tracks, so the city could see where new paths were most needed — turning an ordinary ride into a vote, with a dashboard of distance, speed and route history for the rider.

Two mobile apps built for the Apps 4 Metro Chicago competitions, applying the group’s crowdsourcing work to civic problems: FixIt!, for reporting and validating issues needing city attention, and TrailBlaze Chicago, for planning bike routes and reporting path conditions. Both placed in their rounds.

FixIt! let citizens report broken streetlights, potholes, graffiti and other public property issues — then unobtrusively asked other users nearby to confirm or refute each report, so what reached the city was a curated list rather than a queue of unverified claims.