Find Posts By Topic

Reporting potholes keeps getting easier – now there’s an app for that too!

If you have a smart phone (Android or iPhone), with Seattle’s Find It, Fix It app, reporting a pothole has become even easier.  With the new app, reporting a pothole  is as easy as snapping a photo of it with your smartphone, adding detailed information, and hitting submit. The map’s “drag and drop” feature or the phone’s own technology can be used to pinpoint the location. It’s that easy!

Android users can download the app from the Google Play Store and iPhone users can download it from the App Store.

The app offers several service request categories besides fixing a pothole:

  • App fix itAbandoned Vehicles: report vehicles parked in a public right-of-way more than three days.
  • Graffiti: report graffiti, including what it is on — parking meter, utility pole or building — so it gets automatically routed to the appropriate department for response.
  • Parking Enforcement: make an inquiry regarding a parking concern.
  • Pothole: report a pothole.
  • Other Inquiry is a miscellaneous category for making an inquiry or request, which will be processed by the City’s Customer Service Bureau.  Mobile users should choose this category to provide feedback.

The app also provides a link to m.seattle.gov, the mobile version of the City of Seattle’s website.

Once you download and use Find It, Fix It, you can submit feedback using the app’s “other inquiry” category which is found under the “New Request” icon.

The new app has only been available for about two months, so it’s too early to tell how Seattleites will take to it.   A similar app being used by the City of Boston  has been in use for some time and is very popular.  People say that when they call in a concern they feel like they are complaining, but when they use the app they feel like they are helping.  The Boston app now also allows more interaction between the reporting public and the crews responding to the reports.  Who knows, if Seattle’s Find it Fix it app takes off and  is equally successful, perhaps we’ll may move to that next level of interaction as well!

Go forth and report….you are our eyes on the streets!