Council App to report stuff

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 20, 2015 at 11:53

JoeW, your comment got me thinking.

"... I had it installed so all I had to do was take a photo using the app and hit submit and the report goes straight to the relevant Haringey department. I got a fairly prompt response asking for the location - I had assumed the app would log the location using GPS but it seems it wasn't accurate enough."

So today I sent this to Haringey's webpage about the app.

"Someone who regularly uses your app says that it doesn't automatically use GPS to log the location. And so they have to give the location as well as send a photo. Can you please explain whether this is the case for all smartphones? Or can I choose a smartphone which will automatically send you the GPS location of my own photos of dumping, potholes etc etc?

Thanks for your help."

________________________

Another aspect of this is whether or not staff who are out-and-about are issued smartphones so they too can take a minute to report something. Plainly, if say, street cleaners are expected to write reports as they walk round, they'll take far longer. But sending a photo which includes GPS data would make the process much easier and faster.

When I was a councillor one of my suggestions was that a phone company might be willing to fund and help develop the fastest, most efficient and foolproof reporting app which would take both residents and staff no more than seconds. The payoff for the company - apart from the call charges - would be the positive publicity it could bring them.

But maybe this already happens and I'm out of date?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on October 20, 2015 at 12:16

Joe, I just had a go at the app and when I pressed Begin the first thing that came up was a map with a pin showing where I was. You can change this by moving the pin around and also add supplementary info (especially if the whatever is not immediately visible, like behind a wall). Do you have GPS location enabled on your phone?

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Permalink Reply by JoeW on October 21, 2015 at 15:40

Sorry not to have been clearer in my earlier post, but the app does use GPS, however the council officer responding still wanted more precise details. I think there could be several valid reasons for this e.g. they want to get confirmation before following up, or the GPS signal wasn't accurate enough (the dead cat was at the junction of Wightman with Turnpike Lane, I think it would make sense to clarify on exactly which road or pavement the cat was restin' before sending out the disposal squad).

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on October 22, 2015 at 11:22

I used the prototype of this app to report an elephant at Harringay Station in December 1953. Last Friday the Municipal Borough of Hornsey sent around one of their street sweepers with wheelbarrow, shovel & brush in case his services were required. Even with his updated app he could not establish the whereabouts of the elephant. I have been threatened with a fine for wasting MBH's time and resources. I suspect the elephant has become trapped in the permanently locked waiting room on the station.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on October 22, 2015 at 11:28

You may joke but one of the people who receives these reports at my old place of work told me that they got a report of a dead horse on Camden High Street. Seems the poor creature, with police officer astride, had dropped dead of a heart attack.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 22, 2015 at 12:57

I nearly walked into an elephant in a back street in Delhi. No street lighting - and it was parked without lights. My friend and I were absorbed in conversation.

P.S. This actually happened. It was not an allegory; it was just an elephant.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on October 22, 2015 at 13:44

If only Freud had used that one instead of a cigar. "Sometimes an elephant is just an elephant"

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Permalink Reply by JoeW on October 23, 2015 at 8:44

Alan, there are no allegories in India.

Crocodiles yes, but no allegories...

:D

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on October 23, 2015 at 9:25

But beware the allegories of the Nile

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on October 23, 2015 at 6:12

I report stuff all the time.  Occasionally I hear back that it has been "dealt with".  I go back and whatever it was is still there.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 23, 2015 at 12:44

Sarah, Do you know a song: The Cat Came Back?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bETCusT5kNM

Sarah saw some bags of rubbish lying on the ground.
Reported to Veolia who said they'd soon be round.
She waited and she waited but still the pile she found.
The crap sat pat, she thought it was a goner. But it just wouldn't go away.

So she gave it to a friend who was travelling far away...
But the bags were back the very next day.
The crap came back. She thought it was a goner
But the crap came back. it just wouldn't stay away.

A friendly man was passing by and took a ten pound note.
He promised to remove the bags up river on a boat.
The boat turned over and was never found,
And now they drag the river for the man - presumed drowned...
But the bags came back the very next day.
The crap came back. They thought it was goner
But the crap came back. It seemed to like things that way.

She gave it to a man cycling to the Civic Centre.
Told him to leave it at the doorway as you enter
First the bike jumped the curb... then it hit a lorry ...
Not a spoke or pedal left. Everyone was sorry.
But the crap came back the very next day.
The dumping came back. They thought it was a goner,
But the crap came back. It just wouldn't stay away.

An earthquake has wrecked the place - the whole of Haringey
A tsunami struck - in the same destructive way.
First Wood Green, then Crouch End.  Muswell Hill was lost.
Everything was flattened and no one knew the cost ...
But the bags came back the very next day.
The crap came back. They thought it was a goner,
The crap came back. It just wouldn't stay away.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on October 23, 2015 at 13:16

Wow, you put a lot of effort into that!

This is exactly the same stuff - the piles get bigger but at the bottom it's the same fridges, boilers, etc that was there when I first reported it. I think it's Homes for Haringey and Veolia passing the buck between themselves.

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