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    City of Columbus Launches Mobile App for Plugging into City Services

    The City of Columbus is officially launching a free mobile application tomorrow called “MyColumbus”. The application provides users with a unique way to interact with four main Columbus websites and tools, including 311, GreenSpot, Get Active Columbus and My Neighborhood.

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    After downloading the iPhone version of the app on Friday afternoon and spending two days playing around with it, I thought I’d give it a quick “first impression” review.

    The app’s homepage contains a video intro from Mayor Michael B. Coleman, an RSS feed delivering the latest news from city hall and connections to the city’s official social media accounts. The application takes advantage of the GPS location system built into the iPhone, and many of the functions revolve around this feature.

    The My Neighborhood tool allows you to quickly locate the nearest art museums, government centers, and other community resources. Probably nothing that you couldn’t find using google maps, but I can see where this tool could come in very handy when visiting an area of the city you’re unfamiliar with and looking for something interesting to do. The weakest component of this tool is the Transportation section, which lists car rental facilities and parking garage locations, but it doesn’t seem to list all parking locations (surprisingly absent from Downtown are the Columbus Commons Parking Garage, the RiverSouth Garage and the Fourth & Elm Garage) and it doesn’t provide information on bike parking or real time bus routes (which COTA does provide via Google Transit).

    The Get Active tool was designed to provide health-focused information, events and ideas to encourage physical activity. The bicycling section provides maps of city streets with green, yellow and red lines that indicate how bike-friendly they are. Unfortunately, these maps are static images and not true interactive maps. The walking section is similar and provides walking path maps with points of interest. The eating section provides healthy recipes. Good information to have at your fingertips.

    The GreenSpot tool provides information about the GreenSpot program. There’s an interactive map of registered GreenSpot business locations, and you can sign up for the program from within the application, which is a nice touch, though really only a one-time use function.

    The 311 application is by far the best tool included in the MyColumbus app, and could easily function as a standalone application. The app allows users to submit service requests to the 311 service center and track service request tickets. There are also hotlinks to call or email 311 if you prefer the more traditional means of contact. Where the app excels is in the ability to pinpoint locations that need the city’s attention with the GPS locator, and attach photos taken with your mobile device to include in your service request.

    For example… you’re walking down the street and you spot some ugly graffiti tag on the side of a building. Pull out your MyColumbus app and report the graffiti to 311 with a pinpoint location and photo attachment. It takes around 60 seconds to accomplish and doesn’t require you to make a phone call during operating hours or remembering to send an email when you sit down in front of your computer. You can report abandoned vehicles, code violations, litter problems, broken street lights and more. If this tool can gain some traction and become widely adopted enough, it could really serve as a powerful way to enhance the “eyes and ears” of the City of Columbus when it comes to keeping our neighborhoods clean and safe.

    From a technical perspective, the app functions well and is easy to use. I did get stuck in one area where the application was non-responsive, but relaunching the application reset the menus. Some of the maps are a bit slow to load on the 3G network, which means a better load time for 4G users but a worse load time if you’re stuck on a lesser network, perhaps in a more remote area of the region.

    From a design perspective, the app looks nice and everything is laid out in a manner that is easy to understand. The four different sections all have their own layouts so there could stand to be a little bit of design cohesion across the board. Something I’d like to see in a later update.

    The MyColumbus app is initially available for the iPhone and iPad. Android and Blackberry versions will be launching soon. The iPhone and iPad versions can be found in the Apple store by CLICKING HERE.

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    Walker Evans
    Walker Evanshttps://columbusunderground.com
    Walker Evans is the co-founder of Columbus Underground, along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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