Efficiency savings to be made for boroughs using cloud based smart technology solutions

The Mayor has urged Londoners to help spruce up the capital by reporting ‘grime-crime’ such as graffiti, litter and fly-tipping using internet and mobile phone technology. The innovative system enables users to track progress of clean-ups whilst also delivering financial savings for boroughs.

‘Love Clean London’ works by allowing people to upload photographs onto an online map of environmental issues that require action by the local authority. The system— invented and pioneered by Lewisham council—gives people an easy way to help their borough keep communities clean, receive prompt action when a report is sent and help boroughs direct their resources to the areas that need them most. Users can submit reports using a free mobile phone application, send a text or visit the lovecleanlondon.org web portal.

A GPS signal enables participating boroughs to receive the report as an email to then action. An interactive map shows all the reports, updating on the progress taken. The website shows environmental black-spots and also places where clean ups have taken place either by councils or volunteers.

Love Clean London is built on “Azure” – cloud computing technology from Microsoft. Londoners can submit reports using a free Windows Phone 7 or other smartphone app which can be downloaded from the cloud. There people can see and search for all the reports in their area and share them through social networking sites, review progress, or subscribe to updates. The website was developed by Microsoft certified partner bbits and features an interactive map using the latest Microsoft Silverlight browser plug-in and Bing Maps for Enterprise to show reports in real time – all of which is hosted in the cloud. The system can be fully integrated into local authority systems using the Microsoft .NET Framework, ensuring that issues can be dealt with smoothly and allowing developers to create their own applications to submit and retrieve reports.

Jason Burton, Government Industry Market Development Manager, Microsoft UK, said: ‘Love Clean London is a leading example of a citizen-centric public service. We are excited to see Cloud and mobile technologies being brought together in a way that helps to markedly improve local authorities’ engagement with the communities they serve. Love Clean London will enable Londoners to communicate with their local councils in a new and interactive way and, thanks to the scalability and flexibility of cloud computing technologies, the service can be delivered at a fraction of the cost of a traditional IT solution.’