Monday, December 08, 2003

Location-Based Services According to the PSI Group, "If there is a single Web-enabled function that defines the leading edge of egovernment implementation, it is the presence of online GIS applications."  The effective use of GIS is key to being able to provide location-based services.  In a recent meeting of our wireless citizen portal team, we discussed location-based services as one of the key components for a wireless portal.  In the future, the wireless government portal will recognize the location of the user and respond with relevant services and information.  This will include voice, data, video, etc. depending on the needs and requirements of the user.  PSI's recently published whitepaper gives many examples of how GIS is being used creatively by local government. I recently wrote about Provo City's online parking ticket appeals service.  Charles Kaylor of the PSI Group responds: My organization, the Public Sphere Information Group maintains the Municipality eGovernment Assessment Project (www.psigroup.biz/megap), which tracks 75 some odd performance dimensions that relate for the most part to specific online services and features (some odder than others as it turns out).  One of them is contesting parking tickets. So here's some data from our second wave of observations of all cities over 100K (conducted in 2001 -- Wave 3 will be released soon, I'll keep you posted): -- 3 other cities with interactive parking ticket referees:  Charlotte, NC; Cambridge, MA and Stamford, CT -- 9 cities make a "contest your ticket" form available for download (Berkeley, CA; Des Moines,IA; Escondido, CA; Modesto, CA; New York, NY; Raleigh, NC; Riverside, CA; San Jose, CA; and Winston-Salem, NC) -- Another 25 provide contact information or some other information about parking ticket contestation. That's a total of 37 cities out of 239 offering this feature (a distinct minority to be sure -- 15.4%) I really only consider the first to be a real e-government online service and unique from providing a form or information.  That could just as easily be provided, and often is, when the ticket is received. 7:33:38 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 David Fletcher.