Mobile phone app connects citizens directly to city services
San Francisco -- May 5th, 2010 -- Rock Solid (previously CitySourced), a real time mobile civic engagement company and a finalist at the 2009 TechCrunch50 conference, announced today that its innovative mobile phone application is now integrated with the San Francisco Open311 API to send reports from Rock Solid directly to San Francisco's 311 system. 311 systems allow citizens to connect directly with non-emergency government offices. This is an unprecedented public/private partnership that captures the essence of the Gov2.0 movement. This means citizens will be able to quickly photograph important issues in their community with their smart phones and receive feedback on when their issues get resolved. In addition to the photo, the Rock Solid application delivers the physical address of the issue via GPS coordinates, date/time stamp, and the report type (graffiti, trash, pothole, etc.). Rock Solid aims to reduce the amount of calls that come into city hall, helping to reduce costs, increase efficiency, as well as make it easier for city employees to verify issues using the rich data. The Open311 API allows Rock Solid to take the initiative and deliver value through its application to the city of San Francisco. "Rock Solid is changing the way citizens interact with city services," said Chris Vein, City CIO. "The Rock Solid application will give San Franciscans the power and ability to instantly report city issues, not only empowering their role as citizens, but making the city an even better and safer place to live." In March 2010, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom launched Open311 API, allowing software developers to write web applications that interact directly with city departments.
Rock Solid for San Francisco is available right now for free download in the Apple iTunes app store as 'San Francisco 311', and is launching in Q2 2010 on Blackberry & Android. Rock Solid currently allows citizens in over 1900 cities nationwide to directly deliver citizen reports to city council and public works via e-mail. Rock Solid is powered by FreedomSpeaks, the largest database of public officials in the United States. Rock Solid has official integration with districts in San Jose and Los Angeles, California. Additional major cities have signed up to the service and are coming online in Q2 2010.
About Rock Solid:
Rock Solid is a real time mobile civic engagement tool. Rock Solid provides 1) a free, simple, and intuitive tool empowering citizens to identify civic issues graffiti, trash, potholes etc.) and report them to city hall for quick resolution; 2) an opportunity for government to use technology to save money and be more accountable to those they govern; and 3) a positive, collaborative platform for real civic action. The platform is called Rock Solid, as it empowers ordinary citizens to crowdsource solutions for common civic issues. Rock Solid is powered by FreedomSpeaks, the leader in interactive civic engagement.
For more information about Rock Solid, including images, please visit rocksolid.com
