RequestIndy Citizen Portal

Print Friendly Version
Image

Background

In 2009, the city of Indianapolis recognized a need for its departments to respond more efficiently to citizen-initiated, non-emergency service requests for issues such as potholes, high weeds or abandoned vehicles.

For city staff, the old manual-entry system was inefficient, provided little access to data and was slow to resolve problems for citizens.

Challenge

The city sought to provide a standardized process for a more efficient means of data visualization, retrieval and analysis of non-emergency service requests. Additionally, Indianapolis was looking for a way to provide public access to its existing GIS environment.

Solution

Woolpert created and implemented RequestIndy, a map-centric portal for pinpointing the locations of reported problems in real time. Following a request from the Indianapolis Mayor’s Action Center, the Woolpert team also created apps for smart phones to provide citizens with easy and convenient contact with the city.

Outcome

RequestIndy has become an embedded element in the Department of Public Works, enabling staff and citizens to navigate Indianapolis information through intuitive geospatial maps, apps and data. Each new request is categorized and sent to a suite of integrated services for dispatch directly to the correct maintenance management, permitting or animal control system.

Deliverables for citizens include user applications for the web as well as IOS and Android platforms. Deliverables for city crews include a GIS database and service request submission and status check functionalities. Requests for service are automatically mapped in real time within a GIS layer, where Indianapolis crews can query and analyze them.

Benefits

The two-pronged approach for RequestIndy improved the process of responding to non-emergency service requests for both citizens and city crews.

Citizens now can report problems, submit service requests and track them all the way through resolution—24 hours a day, seven days a week. This access assures residents that the city is dealing with their problems in a timely manner.

RequestIndy also enables staff to skip time-consuming manual entries of service requests and gain access to an accurate, up-to-date database they can use to validate service requests, analyze data and recognize trends.

This popular and effective service has supported a massive increase in city service requests. When the app was launched in 2010, requests numbered over 13,000. Fast-forward to 2018, and the app handled over 74,000 requests.

Client
City of Indianapolis

Location
Indianapolis, IN

Award
Citizen Engaged Community 2011-2013 Award, Public Technology Institute

Challenge
Resolve citizen-reported, non-emergency service requests more efficiently

Solution
Create Requestindy, a map-centric portal accessible by citizens

 Services

  • Application development

Benefits

  • Improved customer service
  • Streamlined work management

Additional Resources