Baltimore Announces 311 Mobile App + API

This morning I attended a technology press announcement where Mayor Rawlings-Blake and CIO Rico Singleton unveiled a 311 mobile app for Baltimore. The service allows citizens to report service requests from an iPhone or Android smartphone. The first edition of the mobile app is free and has over fifty different service requests to choose from, including complaints about trash, potholes, graffiti, and malfunctioning traffic signs.

The app is built on top of the Open 311 standard which is being adopted by cities around the country as an open and interoperable platform making it easy for developers to interact with the 311 service on their own. The Baltimore 311 app also has an API which is open to the public.
The app was developed by Connected Bits, a New Hampshire software development company that specializes in mobile app development for municipalities. I spoke with Dave Mitchell, one of the founders of Connected Bits, who told me that he was contacted by Baltimore city in November of 2010 to develop the app and went into contract in February of 2011.
This has already raised questions as to why this contract of work wasn’t locally solicited first, especially since the Mayor has pushed her “Employ Baltimore” executive order which aims to keep city dollars in the local economy by offering city contracts to the local workforce. While I’m confident our local technology community was more than capable of developing this app, this specific contract was never solicited locally.
Regardless of some eyebrows that have been raised after today’s annoucement, this app is a big step in the right direction for Baltimore. In 1996, Baltimore became the first city in the country to provide a 311 Call Center to answer police non-emergency calls and free up 911 lines for emergency situations. Since then, 311 has become a vital tool for communicating with residents on all City services, ranging from potholes to bulk trash, and most recently sand bag pickups and downed trees. This mobile app is a giant leap forward in Baltimore’s ability to promote transparency and become responsive to the way citizens interact with their government.
This app is available now on both the iPhone and Android.