Hi Denis,
You may also want to look into some of the other applications that work with the Open311 GeoReport API standard. GeoReport is an open standard that was created to make tools like this more interoperable, but also to allow them to integrate with government service request systems so authorities could manage these requests more easily than emails.
The model you describe here sounds very much like FixMyStreet which was first established in the UK, but since it's open source it has been re-deployed in other countries and there have also been versions written in other programming languages (php and python in addition to the original one in perl). When systems like this use the GeoReport API they can integrate directly with the ticketing system the authorities use to manage their work. The standard has since been implemented by dozens of systems, both open source and propriety and is now in use by many governments to allow these kinds of applications to integrate with their internal systems. The original FixMyStreet codebase has initial support for the standard and there are plugins and additional code to make it work with Ushahidi as well.
For the part of the GeoReport specification that handles the request logic that you described before, we mapped that to categories and forms in Ushahidi. This assumes that an Ushahidi category has an associated custom form, so that when someone chooses the category they will see "a template to form your request in an appropriate language" by filling out the custom form fields that have been configured in your instance of ushahidi. Because the Open311 GeoReport standard uses APIs to interact with systems it doesn't incorporate email directly, but it would be very easy for someone to create a GeoReport client that automatically routes requests made via the API to email addresses. Similar things have already been done using the API for Facebook and Twitter integration.
You can find the documentation of the Open311 GeoReport v2 specification at:
http://wiki.open311.org/GeoReport_v2
There's also a list of open source tools that support this standard (as well as some that don't yet). I've added RosYama to this list, but there are many that support the standard that you might want to look at. There are also client libraries and implementations using PHP that may be helpful if you want to incorporate the standard into RosYama. One application that's rather similar is Mark-a-Spot which is from Germany, but also in PHP and has initial support for the GeoReport v2 standard. The full list is at:
http://wiki.open311.org/Open_Source
The list of cities with live APIs can be seen at:
http://wiki.open311.org/GeoReport_v2/Servers
While most of the cities officially supporting the standard are in the US, it's being adopted internationally more and more. Toronto was the last major city to implement it and it looks like either Helsinki or Chicago will be the next. It's also in use by FixMyStreet implementations in the UK and Norway and there are many planned implementations across Latin America as well.
I'd be happy to help support the standard being implemented in RosYama and around Russia. You may also be interested in joining the Open311 mailing list to discuss your work with others who are building similar systems:
http://lists.open311.org/groups/discuss
Best,
Phil--On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 6:14 PM, Private Inf <privateinf@...> wrote:
Hi Robbie,I have described the meaning but seems not clear enough.- request logic to deal with authorities;
Let me explain you.
Suppose you have spotted a big hole on the road.
You want it to be fixed.
You need instructions where to report it to authorities.
You also need a template to form your request in an appropriate language ("hey, dude, you have a hole here" will not make sense ;) )
Fine if authorities will fix the hole after your request. But if not?
Then one need to write to state prosecutor.
When the issue is fixed you need to load a photo of fixed defect to prove it is fixed.
Example is here: http://rosyama.ru/20472/
Thanks,
DenisOn Thu, May 3, 2012 at 1:44 AM, Robbie MacKay <robbie@...> wrote:
Hi Denis,
- private user profile;Ushahidi has user profile which could probably be extended to create private user profile, or a plugin could be written for this.
- request logic to deal with authorities;Not sure what you mean here.Ushahidi has these - you just need to configure them in the admin.
- icons for categories (colors in Ushahidi are not expressive);RobbieOn Thu, May 3, 2012 at 5:25 AM, Private Inf <privateinf@...> wrote:Dear Ushahidi developers,
I got experience moderating Ushahidi in this project:
radiation.crowdmap.com
Now my attention is focused on http://rosyama.ru project.
The aim of the project is to improve road condition in Russia.
The algorithm of the RosYama is the following:
1) user marks road defect on the map and uploads a photo of defect;
2) user chooses category for the defect;
3) RosYama generates a common request to authorities demanding to fix defect;
4) User can upload a reply received from authorities regarding his request;
5) If defect will not be fixed RosYama can help to generate a complain to state prosecutor.
6) If the defect is fixed user can mark it as fixed and upload a photo of fixed defect.
RosYama is an open source project licensed under BSD license and hosted on GitHUB:
https://github.com/RosYama/RosYama.2
RosYama started from scratch and still under development.
There are many common features between Ushahidy and RosYama.
Ushahidi is a mature and worldwide known project.
It would be nice to use Ushahidi for solving the same sort of problems as RosYama do.
But Ushahidi lacks important features, which are implemented in RosYama:
- private user profile;
- request logic to deal with authorities;
- icons for categories (colors in Ushahidi are not expressive);
Is it hard to implement the above mentioned features in Ushahidi without modifications in architecture?
Is there any development work in the mentioned areas going in Ushahidi?
Thank you,
Denis Kulandin
Philip Ashlock