As calls to New York City's 911 center poured in at 10 times the normal volume during the height of Hurricane Sandy, citizens across the Northeast in the path of the storm turned to SeeClickFix to report non-emergency issues. In the wake of this week's record-breaking storm, BloombergBusinessweek recognized the important role SeeClickFix plays in reducing the number of 911 calls for non-emergency issues during crisis situations.

SeeClickFix CEO Ben Berkowitz told the outlet that citizens in Sandy's path logged over 800 reports from Monday afternoon through midday Tuesday. Residents in Boston, Philadelphia, New Haven and Washington, DC, as well as from other municipalities across the region, shared information about downed trees, flooded roads and other public space concerns caused by the storm.

BloombergBusinessweek also highlighted the important role our media partners played throughout the storm, highlighting Philly.com, NBC Washington and The Huffington Post as a few of the outlets outlets to embed SeeClickFix map widgets where readers could readily report storm damage in their area.

SeeClickFix enables citizens to document concerns they have in their community so that they can get them addressed.  This process is often facilitated by individuals using their own name's as their display names so that they can collaborate with their neighbors.  For instance, concerned parents would be interested in knowing that a friend drew attention to a downed stop sign on a street where a lot of kids play.  No one minds having their names affiliated with SeeClickFix issues like these.

This is not always the case.

Occasionally, situations arise in which a SeeClickFix user wants to post a potentially contentious issue.  Pointing out a blighted property can be sensitive, for example, and users may not care to be identified as having reported this type of problem.

This is where Anonymous Reporting comes in.

SeeClickFix recently launched a new feature that allows logged in users the option of reporting an issue without having it associated with their account.  They'll be able to track problems and receive status updates just like normal, but their display names will no longer be associated with the issues. As you can see in our standard reporting form to the left, users can take advantage of this feature by simply checking a box.  

We're dedicated to constantly improving our user's experience, so that they experience as little friction as possible when attempting to improve their community, and we look forward to rolling out more helpful features in the near future like Anonymous Reporting.

SeeClickFix providing free services for media, citizens in path of record storm 

 New Haven, Conn. - As Hurricane Sandy descends upon the East Coast, national and regional media outlets are encouraging readers to report and track storm damage using innovative, interactive mapping tools on their websites. Powered by SeeClickFix, these maps allow residents anywhere in the path of the storm to report damage from the heavy winds and rain Sandy is expected to unleash on the region. Reports submitted through these tools are publicly visible to others in the area and, in many cases, routed via email to local governments affected by the storm.

Regional publications such as the Bangor Daily News in Bangor, ME and all of the Journal Register Company's outlets in the path of the storm have proactively sought out the storm-specific widgets from SeeClickFix to ensure their readers can stay informed and document damage in their communities. The Huffington Post has also embeded a widget to provide access for readers across the eastern seaboard in Sandy's path.

"SeeClickFix has proven to be an essential tool for media to leverage in the face of emergency events such as Sandy," said Ben Berkowitz, CEO of SeeClickFix. "Having access to realtime information from others in communities affected by the storm is critical for both the safety of citizens, as well as for the post-storm cleanup efforts that will be taking place once the hurricane passes."

SeeClickFix map widgets for media can be used for free and can be customized to display issues specific to a geographic area. More so, the maps can be configured to display only realtime information about storm damage. Reports about storm damage can be submitted through these widgets on media websites and mobile websites, as well as through SeeClickFix's website and mobile apps.

Posts with images of the damage are already coming in and based on previous years experience the map will be filled up by tomorrow am.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and SeeClickFix, the most widely-distributed citizen reporting tool in the world, today launched a partnership that will allow the City of Chicago’s 311 service center to improve the public’s ability to submit and track 311 service requests. Last month, Mayor Emanuel opened the 311 platform for developers to create applications that enhance the public’s ability to submit service requests in new ways. SeeClickFix, which has more than 500 unique early-users in Chicago reporting thousands of issues, has now integrated Chicago’s Open311 tools into their platform, thereby empowering residents to submit service requests via SeeClickFix.com, iPhone, Android and Facebook applications. Of SeeClickFix’s nearly 100 partner cities, Chicago is the largest one to launch a fully integrated connection with the site.

“Chicago launched Open311 as part of our unprecedented commitment to make City data more accessible and empower taxpayers,” said Mayor Emanuel. “I’m pleased that we can work with SeeClickFix to create new ways to improve service delivery, increase government accountability and improve the quality of life for all Chicagoans.”

When someone submits a service request on SeeClickFix, the City will automatically post a confirmation and a service number. For the most popular service requests, a tracking number and link will be posted enabling residents to use Chicago’s 311 Service Tracker to see the status of their issue and sign up to receive an email notification when it has been resolved.

SeeClickFix was originally launched in 2008 by entrepreneurs Ben Berkowitz, Kam Lasater, Jeff Blasius and Miles Lasater, as a means to encourage civic involvement and improve government responsiveness. While Chicagoans have had access to SeeClickFix since the company launched in 2008 and have become a loyal and active user base, the tool wasn’t seamlessly integrated directly to 311. According to Berkowitz, cities that integrate more fully into SeeClickFix tend to see as much as a 10-fold increase in engagement per week, measured by the number of requests and comments submitted by residents.

“Chicagoans are clearly passionate about their city and actively involved in reporting issues to 311,” said Berkowitz. “Integrating SeeClickFix tools empowers residents to connect with each other, their alderman and their city to work together to improve Chicago community by community.”

SeeClickFix’s platform also allows aldermen to see issues being reported in their neighborhoods. With the automatic integration into 311, aldermen no longer need to manually input those requests into 311.

“Combining the technology behind Open311 and SeeClickFix allows aldermanic offices to spend more time addressing constituent issues,” said Alderman James Cappleman, “We’ve been impressed with SeeClickFix’s tools and applaud Mayor Emanuel’s dedication to making City government more open and responsive to the needs of Chicagoans.”

This announcement comes at the onset of the largest growth period for SeeClickFix, which is in the process of partnering with large cities outside Chicago including Toronto, Minneapolis and Mason City, Iowa as well as small towns like Andover, MA and Hendersonville, NC. In the coming month SeeClickFix will launch integrations and new software interfaces for managing citizen requests for cities covering more than 10 million people.

The slogan for the magazine Real Simple is "Life  Made Easier." It's no wonder that the magazine selected SeeClickFix as its "App of the Month" for November 2012, because SeeClickFix makes life so much easier for people who want to improve their community.

We're happy that SeeClickFix is continuing to receive recognition for the practical way it helps citizens to engage with their community, and look forward to working with more cities to make this possible for more people.

SeeClickFix recently rolled out in Smith County, TX, and is already making a big splash. A team at KLTV reported this great story on a citizen who was able to bring attention to a potentially dangerous situation by the side of a road.

There was some standing water in a ditch by the side of the road, and the citizen was understandably concerned that it could become a gathering point for disease carrying mosquitoes.  The problem was that they weren't sure who was responsible for that particular road.  It could have been a city, county, or state issue, and it was difficult for the citizen to get clear information about who to contact to get the problem addressed.  Luckily, they heard about SeeClickFix, and saw prompt action on their concern after making a report on the site.

We're psyched to be working with Smith County, and look forward to helping to solve more tricky problems like this along with the County government and local citizens. 

Citizens in Charlotte were tired of watching perfectly good water leak down their road, week after week. They had tried to contact the city, but were generally given the run around, and received no clear information about when the issue would actually be dealt with.  So, they turned to SeeClickFix.

SeeClickFix does not currently partner with the city of Charlotte, but we do have a fantastic media partner there in WBTV. As you can see on the original issue, WBTV's own Christine Nelson logged on to the issue to reach out to the citizens.  She brought a television crew to the location of the leak, and did a story on the problem.

The very next day, the leak was fixed, as you can see in this report.  As the citizen in the interview explains, "Clean water is hard to come by."  We're happy we were able to play a role in getting a resolution for these frustrated citizens, and in preventing any more water from being wasted. 

Raton, NM (October 2, 2012) - Is there a pothole or obstructed sign in your area that the city needs to be aware of? Now you can report those issues via your smart phone or World Wide Web. SeeClickFix, the electronic application to assist in reporting and management of small infrastructure issues, is now available through www.ratonnm.gov.

“Communication is a key ingredient for success. By utilizing this type of technology to bridge the gap between offline traditional communication and on the go modernized mobile/web applications I believe that we will be able to increase communication and encourage greater civic participation”, said Christopher Reed, Raton Economic Development Director.  “We all are working toward a common goal for our area. To get where we need to be will ultimately be a communal effort and by empowering the citizens we will be able to pool our resources and attain our goals together.”

With the online and mobile reporting platform, residents can report NON-EMERGENCY infrastructure issues through service request categories via the Raton website (www.ratonnm.gov), mobile applications (iPhone, Android), Facebook App, and SeeClickFix.com. When submitting issues via mobile app, for example, residents can provide specific location, descriptive, and photographic information as they see the issue in real time.

Once the resident submits an issue, the reporter, City of Raton, and anyone ‘watching’ the area will receive an alert. The City of Raton can then acknowledge the service request, route it to the proper department, and update the request—and residents following the issue—once it’s been resolved. City officials stress SeeClickFix is for non-emergency problems. Example problems that can be reported by using SeeClickFix include potholes,street sign repairs, street lights out, etc. If someone has an emergency, or if the problem requires immediate attention, please call 911. To download the application on your phone visit your respective application market and search SeeClickFix.