Are you a Bostonian who hates potholes? There’s an app for that, or at least there will be soon. The city is behind a new app for Android called Street Bump which addresses the problem.
Available this summer, the app picks up on potholes using a smartphone’s accelerometer, which is the device that measures movement. When you go over a bump in your car and the app is on, it will report the location to the city’s database. The Street Bump advises the city of the size and the location of the pothole with a GPS coordinate.
The Street Bump app gives Boston the ability to keep drivers informed of real-time road conditions, as well as keep the city on top of potholes that can be fixed while they are still small. Other cities in the U.S. have plans in place to follow suit with similar apps.
There are still a few bugs to work out of the Street Bump app (that’s why you’ll have to wait until the summer to download it) and there may be an iPhone app that may come at a later date. We will keep you posted on the latest developments.
[Source: CNN]