My Smart City, the award-winning free South African platform for citizens, has recently launched its ‘In the City’ functionality, giving city residents more ways to connect to their city.
“The ‘In the City’ function is a welcome addition to the platform’s existing services”, says Joao Zoio, CEO of Acumen Software. “The new feature integrates into local leisure offerings, invaluable performance insights, and value-added services (VAS). The goal is to boost citizen activity, positively affecting the economy”.
My Smart City, developed by Acumen Software, is a citizen-centred platform where residents can effect change by logging service delivery issues and tracking resolutions to their queries in real-time.
In follow up to the recent social feed, which shares information like load shedding schedules and alerts from other community members, the ‘In the City’ functionality offers four new categories of information:
- Local Insights
Citizens can view reports and statistics on issue resolution. The breakdown includes the number of problems fixed, the time to fix them, an age analysis of open issues and how their ward or city compares to others.
- Purchases
This function opens access to value-added services (VAS) with in-app purchases of airtime, data and lotto tickets. In-app purchases can be made with peace of mind, as the infrastructure is a secure and encrypted payment solution.
Soon users will be able to purchase prepaid electricity.
- Places of Interest
‘Places of interest’ functionality introduces a digital directory with information on tourist attractions such as landmarks, galleries, parks, and museums. All the attraction details, like trading hours, location and more, will be available.
- What’s on in your City
Access information on social, sporting and music events with seamless booking and payment functionality.
“We are excited about the ‘What’s on in your City’ and ‘Places of Interest’ categories with the potential to build local tourism. South Africa’s tourism industry was one of the hardest hit during the pandemic. With ‘In the City’ features, citizens are encouraged to explore their cities and support local tourism,” explains Kennedy Mogotsi, COO of Acumen Software.
The ‘In the City’ function encourages active citizenry through its ‘Local Insights’ category. With access to insights into municipal wards’ performance, citizens can educate themselves on what’s going on in their neighbourhoods and compare their wards’ performance to others. This insight promotes transparency and accountability and strengthens the voice of citizens.
“One of our goals has always been to encourage active citizenry whereby users become agents of change. This feature enables users to pinpoint issues, share problem-solving ideas and support municipalities through active citizenship,” says Zoio.
Thanks to the My Smart City platform, it has never been easier for citizens to access information about their cities. With the new ‘In the City’ feature, they can now enjoy what their city has to offer them.
