Stay Curious

SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND UNLOCK ONE MORE ARTICLE FOR FREE.

Sign Up

VIEW OUR Privacy Policy


Discover Magazine Logo

WANT MORE? KEEP READING FOR AS LOW AS $1.99!

Subscribe

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

FIND MY SUBSCRIPTION
Advertisement

Want the City to Fix a Crater-of-Doom Pothole? There's an App for That

Discover the Boston pothole reporting app, Street Bump, using smartphone GPS to simplify pothole reporting effortlessly.

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

Doing good is getting easier. Soon, you'll be able to do your civic duty of reporting potholes without even lifting a finger. The city of Boston is working on a smartphone app that would automatically report potholes to authorities--making it easier to find and fill the more than 19,000 potholes Boston grapples with each year. The in-development Street Bump app uses a smartphone's GPS and accelerometer technology to register the moment when a car lurches into a pothole and to identify the location. No need for the driver to call or email city officials, the app just goes ahead and sends the message on its own. The engineers behind the app--who hail from the Boston mayor's office of New Urban Mechanics, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the Santa Fe Complex--believe Street Bump will make city driving easier, and will save city government some headaches. As the Boston Globe reports:

Currently, ...

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe
Advertisement

0 Free Articles