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The US city of Boston is taking to technology to help fix its bumpy pothole problem. One of the council's new tactics in the war against troublesome roads is an upcoming Android app.
The download, named Street Bump, uses the device's GPS and accelerometer in tandem to automatically detect, locate and report holes in the road's surface as you drive.
The developers claim it'll be sensitive enough to identify even small cracks and divots, before they evolve into dangerous potholes.
It comes from the New Urban Mechanics, a team of software engineers who bring civic innovation to Boston through apps and software. In 2009, it developed the Citizens Connect app for iPhone which allows the public to report issues like graffiti, vandalism and potholes, using the camera and GPS. You'll even get a push notification when the problem's been fixed.
But while roughly one in six potholes that the city fixes are reported by the public through services like this, the developers want to make reporting problems more passive. "It's a new kind of volunteerism,'' the studios' Nigel Jacob told The Boston Globe. "It's not volunteering your sweat equity. It's volunteering the devices that are in your pocket to help the city.''
The team has launched an alpha version of the app on the Android Marketplace. It will soon be asking aspiring app creators to help design the algorithms needed to convert the raw data into helpful information, and distinguish between a catastrophic pothole and knocking your phone off the dashboard. A prize bucket of $25,000 (£15,000) will be awarded to the programmer who comes up with the best idea.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
