GPS Incorporated Into App For Speedy Street Light Repairs

[RobBrady]

GPS technology has been incorporated into a new phone app to help towards speedier street light repairs.

In a city with more than 25,000 streetlights, San Francisco relies heavily on the public to inform authorities when they burn out.

In a bid to facilitate the reporting of broken or burned-out street lights in the city, which is home to more than 800,000 residents, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has got tech-savvy and released a new smartphone app.

The app, which is called StreetLightsSF and is designed to dramatically speed up repair times, makes use of GPS technology to allow residents to pinpoint their location and report an issue.

It is hoped the information provided by GPS will allow SFPUC to identify who operates the streetlight and consequently route repair requests to the correct agency, who can then inform repair workers.

SFPUC responded to 3,620 outage requests in 2012 and took an average of five days to carry out repairs. Restoration time was down to 3.5 days in the first quarter of 2013 - but officials want to trim this down even more.

Reports of broken street lights filed through the app are run through the existing reporting system to avoid duplicate complaints.

The app is available to download on iPhones and phones that run on Android, and users can also upload multiple photos of the streetlight if they wish.

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Robert Brady

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