The City of Columbus has released a free mobile application allowing area residents enhanced access to city and community resources. The app puts City Services at the fingertips of residents and visitors.
The app uses many integrated technologies, such as GPS for location services, RSS for City News Feeds, and has an entire Social Media Center providing access to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube information. The app includes four mayoral initiatives to help city residents: My Neighborhood, Get Active, Get Green, and 311.
The My Neighborhood campaign allows residents to easily access COTA bus schedules, view Capital Project information, learn about Neighborhood Pride areas and events, view Health Inspections of area restaurants, markets, pools, spas, and tattoo parlors as well as various information.
The Get Active initiative enables residents to access information about parks, community centers, golf courses, pools, sports facilities, schedules and standings, learn if your game is rained out, view an events calendar, park and trail guides, and read tips from prominent community members on healthy eating and exercise.
The Get Green initiative encourages sustainable behavior with environmental facts and pointers in addition to information on what restaurants, business and non-profit organizations are GreenSpot members.
The app also includes a 311 service center submission section where residents can submit and check on the status of service requests from their mobile devices. In addition, residents can enter their address in the settings to customize the app to send push notification about trash, recycling, and yard waste days. Additional push notifications are available for those who wish to receive News and Alert information.
This app is one piece of the foundation of a strategic mobile program for the City of Columbus. The myColumbus app is focused on improving city-to-resident communication and making public services more accessible and engaging to residents. Since its launch in 2011, the City of Columbus, Department of Technology has been recognized as a 2013 Honors Award Laureate by ComputerWorld magazine, won the 2014 CITE Award for Best Customer App, and the progress on the app helped Columbus win the title of The Most Intelligent Community in the World in June of 2015.