Boston Developing "Street Bump" App to Report All Potholes in Real Time

The city of Boston is developing an app – first of all, I didn't realize cities developed apps, and that seems pretty neat. Second, this app is called "Street Bump" for Android smartphones and it'll be reporting every pothole in the city as they're hit. But why would you want to know this information? You wouldn't! You can just drive around potholes when you see them. This information is transmitted to city officials who then have a record of the places they're going to need to hit on their daily tar run.

This app was developed by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's Office of New Urban Mechanics. This same office launched an app back in 2009 called Citizens Connect which allows users to take photos of and report offensive behavior, crimes, and things such as graffiti. This new app Street Bump is already active and working, the developers reporting there only being a few bugs left to iron out.

Developer Chris Osgood notes that they're very proud of the app: "We're constantly looking for new ways to make sure that roads are as smooth as they possibly can be, and we believe that Street Bump is a first-in-the nation app," while still acknowledging the need for work to be done on it. In order to improve the app, the city plans on opening a competition through InnoCentive.com that will award programmers $25,000 for the best improvements to Street Bump.

Grab the app right NOW if you live in Boston. If you do not live in Boston, probably do not download the app at all – instead get in contact with the developers of the app and see what they can do about porting the app to your home city to improve the streets!

[via Switched]