City of Decatur Releases iPhone and Android App
Decatur Metro | June 26, 2014 | 3:15 pm
The City of Decatur sent out this press release this afternoon…
Decatur, Ga. – Today the City of Decatur announced the launch of its first mobile app, available for iPhones and smartphones using the Android operating system. The City worked with MyCommunity Mobile to create the app, which is intended for residents and visitors. It can be downloaded for free by searching for “City of Decatur official” on the App Store or Google Play.
The City of Decatur app includes the following features:
- Information includes a brief background on Decatur, the City Hall address and a link to the city’s website
- City Hall features photos of City Commissioners, a list of city services and department phone numbers
- City Calendar of events
- Report an Issue allows users to report an issue by taking a photo, recording an audio message, or taking a video
- Shop & Dine is a complete list of Decatur’s shops and restaurants that include website links, directions and an option to place a telephone call
- Recreation has a list of the city’s recreation facilities with photos, directions and maps
- News keeps app users up-to-date with RSS feeds, Facebook posts and Twitter updates
- Weather puts local weather information on the homepage of the app
- Notifications lets the city send out push notifications via the app during emergencies.
Links to download the City of Decatur mobile app
iPhone:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/decatur-ga-official/id681699343?mt=8
Android:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.decatur.city
Related Posts:
-
May 12, 2011 iPhone vs. Android (37)
-
April 21, 2015 City Commission and School Board To Hold Work Session Next Monday To Discuss $75M Bond (0)
-
April 21, 2015 UPDATED: Tree Falls on City Garbage Truck; No One Hurt (12)
I tried searching for “City of Decatur Official” and “City of Decatur” in the app store with no results.
I found the app searching for “Decatur” in the app store. Interestingly, the Dining/Pubs list doesn’t include Kimball House.
I found Kimball House on the IPhone app
Search for Decatur, GA Official in the Apple app store and it should turn up. That’s how I found it.
Strangely, I had this app for several months and deleted it because the calendar never had anything on it except for Active Living stuff. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be used yet.
Installed it. While I admire the initiative, kind of a clunky design, and seems like it has a ways to go before it will be more than a slightly faster way to look up the phone number of a specific city office. The push notifications of emergencies may be handy if done right.
Though someone needs to tell them that the Pita Pit is no longer a viable fast food option.
I tried to use the app to “report an issue” — a young cyclist didn’t stop long enough at a stop sign and I wanted her brought to justice — but as soon as I got my phone out of my pocket, it was swiped in what appears to be a crime of sought-out opportunity. Dang.
Well, that explains all the youthful phone snatching. What 14 year old predator doesn’t want access to the latest City of Decatur app?
Future updates will include a simple one-touch “annex your property ” feature for all those interested in joining our lovely city.
I don’t know if you’ll get a pushback on that, but it honestly made me laugh out loud.
Me, too–still chuckling at that one. 😀
Ditto the belly laugh! Almost snorted La Croix Peach-Pear Water out of my nose.
Does anyone use apps like these?
When I visit a city or place, I typically use Google or another specialty app if I’m looking for hotels or food, etc.
Maybe this app is good for accessing information quickly without having to go through several pages. If, for example, you want a quick phone number. But, again, there’s always Google…
If I need a phone number or address of a business, I do a Google Map search or I use the Yelp app.
Still, this app is not bad. It’s a decent consolidation of online features, with on-button access to useful stuff like “Report an issue,” though that one there is ripe for abuse. How many reports will the city get of ugly houses going up in Oakhurst?
One feature that would make it worth the download is a real-time pool status. Is McKoy closed because of thunder? How long until it opens? Did someone blow chunks in the Glennlake pool? How long until the chlorine kills the required amount of bacteria, viruses, and prions?
Did the city pay for this? If so, am I the only one who thinks this is a complete waste of money and government resources? Need to look up places to eat in Decatur? Google. Want to check the weather forecast? Google. Need contact info for CoD or want to look at a calendar of city events? Google. For those who want to feel really connected to CoD government, just add the city homepage as a favorite on your smartphone. What does this app have that isn’t on the city’s website, which, of course, can be viewed on the same smartphone that one needs for the app?
And are we are really going to devote city resources to keeping the list of CoD restaurants current? A quick Google search reveals about a dozen websites which perform this “service” at no cost to taxpayes.
You’re not the only wonderer.
I like the app and find it useful. I appreciate the City of Decatur developing and providing it. It’s much faster than looking up info online, at least for me.
While I find the app mostly unhelpful (arguments by others already here), new media gurus at my employer tell me that media savvy people like to use many means to contact the masses. Some are resourceful, like us. Others want Twitter/FB, others want an email address. So they offer them all. Not sure I buy it, but some do.
But to combat my negativity, I like the “Report Issue” button on the bottom. I’ll keep it on my phone just for this. It lists common issues, you select one, and it geotags your location, allows you to attach photos and or write text. Submit.
What should be ON this list could be an entire thread in itself
Currently listed are:
abandoned vehicle
animal control
graffiti
park maintenance
potholes
property code violation
sidewalk maintenance
I see Recreation and Utilities coming in handy
You mean information that is already available on the city’s webiste? So the app might save a minute or two on the couple of occassions a year a handful of residents use it. It doesn’t seem like a good use of tax dollars.
Neither does a no U turn sign at E Lake and College. Can’t have it both ways bro.
When you don’t have a relevant point, just change the subject. No one will ever notice.
How can you relate those two conversations? One is about public safety and/or efficient flow of traffic. The other is about using taxpayer money to make easily accessible information available in a different medium with no/little other added benefit.
That’s how you see it. I see both as use of taxpayer money. One to provide info in a way some people (not you obviously) find useful. The other is to install a sign and enforce an unnecessary traffic control measure. You make a fiscal argument in opposition to one, but don’t seem to be bothered by the cost of the other.
I like the app–especially the Report an Issue.
One suggestion if the City is reading–under Recreation, have a separate tab for dog parks. Right now it appears you’d have to read about each park to see if there is a dog area.
Agree 100% about the dog park link. Would be very handy.
I perused it. Dawgfan, you aren’t the only one. How much did it cost to reinvent this wheel? Because, once again, we have actual problems to address vs fostering a “progressive” image.
If you don’t know where your nearest park is, put the phone down and walk around. The same goes for restaurants, city services, and everything else in this “walkable” hamlet. There are 2 central business districts (East Decatur Station not counted yet), not hard to figure out. It’s a whopping 1.8 miles wide east to west. A bunch of houses north and south of there.
Re: reporting, I’m also not interested in encouraging my spiteful renter neighbors to spy on me and call the city with lies more than they already do every time I make a legitimate improvement to my fixer upper. They have, it’s a waste of my and the city’s time, and a report function will only encourage it. I’m sure they mean well, right?
One thing I didn’t see is a way to comment on matters via Open City Hall, but since they ignore the public anyway, I guess all that would pop up on the screen is a box stating “Sike! Brought to you by Carl’s Jr”.
Like the “Tattoos” category under “Shops.”
Uh, it doesn’t cost that much to develop an app. I do love the faux outrage though.
Faux outrage is a bit hyperbolic. You are, however, seeing frustration with the city’s set of priorities (as of late, seemingly only what serves their personal agenda or what they think will make them look progressive to others.)
Considering this app brings nothing new to the table, yet cost the city time, money, and resources, a quick cost-benefit analysis shows this wasn’t worthwhile.
It’s worth noting that the app was developed in response to Task 6A in the Strategic Plan, which is the baseline directive for the yearly projects and budgets associated with each city department. Whether or not it’s well executed, or is the best way to implement the task, or is a judicious, bang for the buck use of tax dollars at this time are certainly discussions worth having, but suggesting that it came out of nowhere or reflects some personal goal within the city or its leadership seems contrary to it being a citizen-initiated, adopted city objective for four years.
Agree Scott, but if anything, this calls into question the value of the Strategic Plan. I was in those roundtables and heard my fellow citizens suggest that we needed the city to create a website for this, or for that, and every time it came up I pointed out that those websites already existed. I repeatedly brought up DecaturMetro specifically.
At the end of the process the initial suggestions, not the obvious responses, made it into the Plan.
The free market has taken care of many of the things that people desire, and the Strategic Plan process should have been more clear in defining the boundaries of what was the domain of the city government. So instead of having a tree planting festival we got a tree canopy ordinance (well, we got both, but we only needed one). And instead of having local blogs and Google serve the community we got a city app (again, we got both but only needed one).
I think the Strategic Plan is overall a cool thing and I was glad to participate in it. I’m proud our little town is forward looking and involves us all so much in the process. But I don’t think it’s perfect and this here is a good example.
The questions you’ve laid out are, indeed, the conversation worth having. Providing information in a variety of formats to reduce the chance of any one segment of the community being disenfranchised is the objective (and a very important one, IMO). How that gets implemented, however, is subjective and should be something under constant review and revision as the media landscape changes. The conversation happening here is part of that process.
My point was that the driver behind the initiative wasn’t some wild hair outta nowhere. There’s no quest for glory or dictatorial overreach going on. Just one small piece of an overall outreach strategy that some folks find valuable and others do not.
Let me concur that just because one, or even many, do no find a certain government action useful, does not make it a waste of resources or worse, as has been stated by some above. I would hope in democratic nation, those among us who may not use the sidewalk to walk on, can see the benefits for us all in having sidewalks. Does an app that helps folks find city services rise to the beneficial level of a sidewalk? Maybe not, but that doesn’t make it a waste necessarily.
Of course the flip side is that just because a few find a certain government action useful does not make it a good use of resources. Your sidewalk analogy is just silly. If not for sidewalks pedestrians would be forced to walk in the street. If not for this app, citizens and guests wouldn’t be able to access publicly availalbe info on their smartphone. Oh wait a second – scratch that – they just have to use their Google app instead of their CoD app.
Clearly this app is an easy target for your cynicism. But, at the end of the day, it’s a smartphone app. Easy to build and distribute. Not too expensive. That’s all.
To extend your analogy – this app is like building a sidewalk parallel to an existing sidewalk because a few citizens said we need more sidewalks.
We gave the city a set of themes. They have to be smart about how they execute on these themes. I’m not sure this app hit the mark.
And they need to hear this! Providing feedback so that they can course-correct is essential to helping them be excellent. It’s not that they suck, at all.