Government Technology - December 2008 - (Page DC15)

www.digitalcommunities.com will be collected. The town has a Web site and phone hot line for obtaining this information, and the technology allows it to be updated more quickly and accurately. Each night, supervisors update what areas they will be working in for the next two days. This allows citizens to plan ahead and feel like town of Æ cials are keeping them informed. ™ I think information is power,∫ Gantick said. ™ It ' s another form of communication. And you can' t have enough of that in this day and age when you' re dealing with human beings and programs that people expect us to complete in an effective and efÆ cient manner.∫ In the event that a citizen makes a complaint – like a snowplow was speeding down a street – a manager can look up exactly how fast the vehicle was traveling and what direction it went. This capability helps ensure that citizens know their concerns are taken seriously and that the town has the proper information to rectify the problem. survey the storm and Æ rsthand accounts on data collection, such as tracking which areas had the largest amount of leaves from snowplow drivers. Another plan is to update the town' s Web collected, which would aid preparation for portal to share real-time information with cit- following years. ™ To track data, to have real information izens. The goal is for citizens to be able to go online and see exactly where the snowplows when somebody complains about someTracking in the Future thing, to be able to evaluate efÆ ciencies and In the future, the capability will also save and leaf collection machines are located. ™ We' ve only scratched the surface of what how long it takes to do certain activities, and time when determining when and where to remove snow. ™ We would like to obtain this technology can bring, so we don' t truly track where you' ve been with these differa weather feed from the National Weather understand the capabilities,∫ Gantick said. ent programs – we' re talking about saving a Service and overlay it on the town' s GIS map ™ Theoretically next year people can look on lot of manpower both by managers and the in order to track storm intensity,∫ Roberts the Web and see where the leaf machine is in people out in the Æ eld working,∫ Gantick said. said. This would enable managers to deploy their neighborhood because some people are ™ We can better monitor the programs as well snowplows to areas that are going to be hit out there raking feverishly, and they would as provide information on an almost instantaneous basis as to what' s going on.∫ the hardest with inclement weather. Cur- like to know exactly where the crew is.∫ As ofÆ cials become more acclimated to rently that information comes from police reports, supervisors driving around who the technology, the town will focus more BlackBerry For more information on BlackBerry Business Solutions for the Public Sector, visit www.govtech.com/dc/blackberry DIGITAL COMMUNITIES DECEMBER 08 15 http://www.digitalcommunities.com http://www.govtech.com/dc/blackberry http://www.govtech.com/dc/blackberry

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - December 2008

Government Technology - December 2008 Contents Point of View Four Questions for... On the Scene Big Picture Year in Review Who Controls Your Network? Paper Makes a Comeback Halting Meth Abuse Spectrum Up Close signal:noise Digital Communities Contents Becoming a Digital Community Rethinking 700 MHz Smart Grids: Powering the Future Gearing Up for Crime 2.0 Software Predicts Crime Local Portals on the Red Carpet More Than Just a Pretty Face

Government Technology - December 2008

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