Thursday, August 20, 2009

iBurgh


It seemed that for so long there were few practical, useful iPhone Apps available. iPhone users were stuck with gimmicky apps that did little except show off the iPhone's motion and graphic capabilities. Thankfully all that has changed and there are more and more really useful apps coming through the Apple iTunes Store.

iBurgh is a new app that not allows residents' of Pittsburgh (US) to lodge complaints straight through to the city with geo-tagged pictures of potholes, graffiti and other public maintenance issues. iBurgh is part of a new breed of app described by Pittsburgh councillors as "changing the democratic process", through "e-democracy".

The app utilises the iPhone's GPS functionality and lets users pinpoint their exact location on a map while also including a picture of what it is they want to notify about. Their complaint is then delivered directly to the city's 311, or helpline department, with a short description, and time and date.

iBurgh was developed by YinzCam, already famous in Pittsburgh for their impresses iPhone NHL applications, and is available for free download from iTunes.

Bill Peduto, a Pittsburgh city councilman, told the Pittsburgh Business Times: "We want to establish Pittsburgh as the home of e-democracy. Since the invention of the printing press, there really hasn't been a development that gives us the ability to change the democratic process. This is a way for government to be directly responsive to people, instead of waiting for complaints to pile up."

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