Our app serves as a community task-sharing platform, enabling neighbors to be better stewards by flagging opportunities for improvement in their immediate vicinity, and responding with hands-on involvement making for cleaner, safer, and more enjoyable neighborhoods!
This app utilizes a Maps API with GPS tagging to allow anyone to indicate an opportunity for community improvement, like clearing rubbish, removing broken glass, or clearing storm grates. Flagging a location is quick and easy to complete as a passer-by, and adds the task to a public ledger that other users within the vicinity can view.
The user who flagged the issue can return themselves later on to complete the task, or other users can take it upon themselves to either resolve or expand upon the need at hand. By flagging, adding notes to, and completing tasks in their neighborhood, users gain merit as community leaders, and play a role in making stronger, better connected communities.
The primary objective of this application is to lower the barrier of entry for normal folks to get involved in their immediate communities. For those user who cannot interrupt their day every time they spot some blight in the public spaces they frequent, a simple call to action to a listening community is a crucial first step. The public ledger of the issue then encourages others to action, or holds a place in the originator's mind for later return and resolution.
Our app isn't meant just for already civically-engaged populations, but aims to empower more ordinary folk to make stewardship of the places we share with our neighbors an easier and more accessible activity.
In the MVP version users will be able to:
- Create Task, a GPS-tagged post with image and time-stamp
- View list of all active Tasks within adjustable radius of current position
- View all active Tasks displayed on a map, and jump to Task post on click
- Update a Task post with additional notes
- After performing a Task, verify with photo and GPS data and mark Task Complete
- Earn merit for posting, updating, and completing Tasks - Reputation
- Anonymous profile but opt in to public
Every morning Pushpinder takes a familiar route from her home to her bus stop. Along the way she often notices small blights or minor inconveniences, but trying to keep up with a busy schedule she is often rushed and hardly has the time to be the neighborhood’s janitor! She does have a brief moment, however, to use Neighbor Corps.
In the late fall, after the leaves have mostly cleared of the trees and the rains begin to intensify, she can’t help but notice the storm grate at her intersection has become clogged with silt and leaves. She remembers how many times last year this same spot became flooded and forced her to take an annoying detour or daring leap to keep from getting wet. If she had the time and some tools (or a nice, sturdy poking-branch), she’d take a few moments to clear the leaves and break up the caked mud to make sure there isn’t a new lake on the block the next time it rains hard.
But life duties call, and she must be on her way, however, she can stop long enough to snap a picture with Neighbor Corps, grabbing the GPS coordinates and timestamp of the clogged grate. She could leave it at that, or perhaps add a couple of notes while riding her usual bus route, but in the very least she knows that the issue is saved for later reference. Maybe she’ll bring along a rake on her evening walk!
We now join Jia, who works from her home office in Pushpinder’s neighborhood, although they are not acquainted with one another. After a long morning of debugging a pesky assignment she needs a break for some fresh air and diversion. Jia is an Neighbor Corps user, so before heading out she checks her notifications in case anything has popped up she can help with. Ah! It looks as though there is a mucked-up storm grate not 4 blocks away from her home. That looks like a nice bit of dirty work to get the blood flowing, and it’s in a part of the neighborhood she hasn’t seen before. Reading Pushpinder’s notes she can see that she ought to bring work gloves and a rake, and maybe a refuse bag, and that the task might take 10-20 minutes. That’s a perfect little break, Jia thinks. She grabs her coat, gloves and rake and is off.
Like Jia, anyone within the right radius of the task is free to contribute. So when she arrives she sees that Hy, another Neighbor Corps user has also responded to the call while walking her dog. Together, they make light work of the clogged drain while conversing and enjoying the fresh air. Using Neighbor Corps, they update with a new picture to confirm the task has been completed, and if they like, share their accomplishment on social media. The ledger is then updated with that issue cleared, and their user profiles each earn a bit of merit to show their involvement.
At her desk at work, Pushpinder receives a notification that Jia and Hy have cleared the issue that she first flagged, and gets a share of the satisfaction that comes from working together to solve a problem. She sends a short ‘Kudos!’ to them both, and looks forward to helping out with a future task.
Users can:
- Receive app notifications of new Task posts
- Notifications when passing by a task
- Link to open Maps and navigate to task location
- Message and Share Tasks with other app users
- Share completed Tasks on social media
- Send ‘Kudos’ to other users
- Flag a Task post as “inappropriate” or “inaccurate” if need be
- Flag/Lock a task as unsuitable for handling by general public, and easily notify city services
- Task Tags for sorting (e.g. “Urgent”, “Requires Car”, “Kid Friendly”, “Needs Further Review”, “Cleanup”, “Fix Up”. “Gardening”, etc.)
- Filtered accounts for target groups “not-kid-friendly”
- Helping Hands tasks
- Work with local nonprofits → allow them to use our app to recruit volunteers
- Gamefied “catching” the issue
- A growing plant kind of merit system