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Civic Commons Marketplace Offers New Perspective on Which Engagement Software Really Works
New apps are coming out every day, but how does a local government find out about the latest technology? How do they gain access to the newest, most innovative ways to improve the lives of their citizens? Civic Commons has recently launched the Civic Commons Marketplace. The marketplace is a database of civic software brought together to help government personnel find the online engagement tech tools to best fit their city’s needs.
Comparing Collaborative Open-Source Software used by Local Gov
Leaders in local government can navigate the site to learn about apps that have been used by other cities. Civic Commons itself helps governments use shared and open technologies and has created the marketplace to track apps, entities, and organizations, while identifying which apps are being used by specified municipalities and for what reasons.
A Marketplace Built by Members
Members can help build the wiki by adding apps and including the information on who created them. For example, the City of Philadelphia deployed OpenTreeMap, a Web-based open source software for collaborative geographic urban street tree inventory. OpenTreeMap, now powers PhillyTreeMap, Greenprint maps in Sacramento, CA, and the San Francisco Urban Forest Map.
Currently in beta stage, Civic Commons Marketplace is tracking 217 apps in 80 cities with the intention to become an aggregate of the nation’s municipal IT applications and a forum for sharing software solutions. The home page displays a feed of the most widely used, and the most recent apps deployed or added to the marketplace.
The site is set up so that users can browse by place and particular government agency to learn what apps are used in cities like San Francisco and Boston and determine what can be used in your own city. Apps can also be browsed by software type, license and functions such as transportation, health and social services, and education. The potential for expansion of this site and its functionality is great. As more users contribute to the marketplace, more cities can benefit from this exciting new service.
