News

A new version of the open source software upon which our FixMyStreet Pro solution runs has been released.

Version 6.0 of FixMyStreet includes new features such as:

• The ability to add a category filter to the reporting process, letting people search for a particular category. (This involves adding a category_filter.html template to your cobrand, similar to the one used on fixmystreet.com.)
• A new geolocation button to centre the map at your location.
• Adding the report ID reference to lists of reports in emails.
• We redirect to a confirmation page when creating a report, reducing the risk of Safari creating a duplicate report.
• Cobrands can have different map display times for open/closed/fixed reports.
• All uploaded images are now converted to JPEGs.
• Users can opt out of questionnaires.

Admin improvements

• We have improved the navigation in the admin, moving the main navigation to a sidebar. This is accompanied by minor display and performance improvements in various admin pages.
• Extra questions can now be multiple-choice using checkboxes, or a datetime picker, in addition to the existing options of text field, text area, and single value.
• You can make a phone number required for a particular category.
• On the dashboard, you can now filter by multiple categories, and we’ve fixed the CSV export to not ignore reports that had updates that were only unconfirmed or hidden.
• A long standing bug viewing a category when it has more than 1,000 history entries has been fixed.

Development improvements

• FixMyStreet has been around for a long time, and implemented its own way of sorting extra data on a per-report or update basis. Since then, PostgreSQL has added JSON support, and we have now moved the database tables to store data in this standard way.
• The site can now automatically spot a favicon.ico file present in the web/cobrands/<your-cobrand> directory, rather than having to add your own header template.
• Cobrands can provide (optionally per-category) custom distances for duplicate lookups.
• The daemon will deal with waiting reports in a random order.

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Version 6.0 of FixMyStreet is available to anyone running a site on the FixMyStreet platform, which includes: our own fixmystreet.com; the installations we host and manage for councils and other authorities; and the FixMyStreet instances run by others all over the world.

Developers and other technical-minded folk can view the full release notes on the FixMyStreet Platform website.

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Image: Tania Malréchauffé on Unsplash

Matthew Somerville, Head of Development at SocietyWorks, shares his experience of speaking at a conference dedicated to discontinued civic tech and what can be learnt from it.

Read more posts from the team talking openly about what they’re up to.

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A few weeks ago, I gave a short talk at the second Workshop of Discontinued Civic Tech, held online and in person in Japan. The topic was “What does ‘Failure’ Mean in Civic Tech?” (or should we call that pro-democracy tech?).

My talk was about PledgeBank, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Matt Stempeck first gave a talk about the Civic Tech Graveyard, what themes and lessons can be drawn from the entries there, and how more research is needed into the current state of affairs. It was interesting to see that the top category in the graveyard was collective action, and in there that the number one example shown was PledgeBank – as that was the subject of my presentation that followed straight after.

For those who don’t know, PledgeBank was a website run by mySociety from 2005 to 2015; the second service created after WriteToThem. Its core idea was to help people overcome the collective action dilemma, of wanting to do something but being unable to do it alone; using the internet to gather people together in support. It let people set up pledges in the form: ‘I will do something, but only if a certain number of people will help me’.

With the initial launch and for some time after, plenty of work was done on the site with innovative features like SMS signing, PDF poster generation and local geolocation alerts – remember this was nearly 20 years ago now! But mySociety was and is a small organisation, reliant on a combination of funding, donations, and commercial services, and in 2015 it was decided to close some of our original services, including PledgeBank, to concentrate more on a few core services and our international partnerships at the time.

Certainly, PledgeBank did have a number of individual successes in the decade it was around. As well as various charity collection drives (such as underwear for orphans in Liberia or books to create a town library in India), notable lasting legacies of the site include the foundation of the Open Rights Group charity in the United Kingdom, and the fact that 1,000 people in the United States pledged to move house to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project. And football fans raised over £20,000 for Ebbsfleet United, so that they could buy striker Michael Gash.

We also did some work with Barnet Council in London for a special custom version, where people could for example ask the council to approve a road closure for a street party, if enough residents of the road agreed. So it definitely proved that a website could solve some coordination problems by using the internet. And I’m unaware of any other successful socially focussed version of the same model.

But listening to all that, you’re probably thinking of some rather more ‘successful’ organisations using a similar model since then, for example Groupon, or Kickstarter.

So what happened with PledgeBank? In my opinion:

• The concept was too diffuse, and didn’t provide a reason for people to Do a Thing – pledges with a long lasting effect were more likely ones where people got something out.
• Lacked single-minded vision and the resource to implement it; we were and are a small organisation spread thinly
• Related to that, we did not do enough on the marketing side, both external and internal in terms of curating good pledges, working with potential pledgers, involving more people.
• We weren’t going to drop everything and try and turn PledgeBank into a profitable business in order to fund our charitable work, even if that might have possibly worked out in the end.

After my talk came a number of other interesting ones, including one by Gurden Batra from Dark Matter Labs (an organisation we have worked with on Neighbourhood Warmth, which has some PledgeBank related activity, where it was interesting to see them wrestling with the same issues of funding and longevity that we do.

Matt had also mentioned his Civic Tech Field Guide research – we talk all about the impacts of civic tech at our TICTeC conference, which will be held next year on 10 & 11 June in Mechelen (Belgium) and online. The Call for Proposals is now open, and hope to see you there.

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Image: Photo taken at the workshop by Discontinued Civic Tech

Senior developer Dave Arter talks through some exciting prototyping work he’s been doing recently exploring the use of geotag data and camera integrations to enable users to start reports on FixMyStreet with an image and fast track through the reporting workflow.

You can find more posts from the team talking openly about what they’re working on, something they’re interested in or even perhaps a mistake or challenge they’ve learned from here.

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Image first reporting is something we’ve had on our ‘wouldn’t it be great if’ roadmap for FixMyStreet, and by association FixMyStreet Pro, for a while now. 

When we say ‘image first reporting’ we mean giving users the option to start their journey by uploading an image, instead of this being a step that comes later on in the process. 

Thanks to recent improvements in iOS and Android,  this ‘nice to have’ idea is getting closer to becoming a reality, and I’ve been tasked with prototyping how it could work.

Extracting EXIF data to start reports

When you take a photo on a smartphone, the image file stores a lot of data in a standard known as Exchangeable image file format (EXIF). If you’re using a device that enables geo-tagging, then this data includes the location where the image was taken.

I’ve been prototyping a workflow for FixMyStreet whereby instead of the user finding the location of the problem they want to report (either by inputting the address or postcode, or by using the ‘Use my current location’ option) we can retrieve this information automatically from the EXIF data within an image of the problem at hand.

Why is this a good thing, and will it work?

There are lots of potential benefits to using geotag data for reporting problems on FixMyStreet. 

It would speed up the reporting process, for a start. It could also improve the location accuracy of reports, and remove the need for users who can’t or don’t want to report the problem at its location to remember exactly where it was at a later point in time. 

Of course, this feature will only work for users who have and are able to operate devices that enable them to take photos, and they will need to have enabled geo-tagging. Users will still be able to report problems on FixMyStreet the ‘usual’ way, without using a photo if they can’t take one or don’t have one. 

I’m also still investigating limitations and consequences around accessibility, browser settings, connectivity and file types, and how these elements impact the accuracy and availability of the data. One oddity on iPhones, for example, is photos taken using the camera then and there don’t include geotags – but photos chosen from the user’s camera roll do.

Future improvements could include adding the FixMyStreet app as a sharing destination, meaning you could share a photo from your camera roll straight into the FixMyStreet app to start a report, much like you would an email or a message.

There’s more work to be done before we can look to roll this out, but we’re certainly getting closer – and that’s very exciting!

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Click the following links to find out more about FixMyStreet and FixMyStreet Pro.

We’re always happy to chat to councils and other public bodies who need help with improving their digital interactions with citizens by building trust and increasing efficiency. Get in touch if that sounds like you. 

National Highways’ installation of FixMyStreet Pro is now integrated with Microsoft Entra ID (formally known as Azure Active Directory).

The integration uses an OpenID Connect-compliant endpoint to enable National Highways staff users to sign in to FixMyStreet Pro using their Entra ID credentials.

Chris Livesey, Customer Service Performance Improvement Manager at National Highways said: “Our Single Sign On function with the FixMyStreet Pro platform went live this month as part of a four-year contract renewal earlier this year. This offers us increased security and reduced user-administration. The application now integrates with our Entra application ensuring a seamless exchange of data.”

Easy and secure staff access for larger teams

As well as increasing security by restricting log-ins to Entra ID accounts only, the integration reduces the administration associated with setting up staff user accounts for larger teams like at National Highways.

Existing account roles on National Highways’ Entra ID have been mapped to corresponding roles on FixMyStreet Pro to automate the account creation and permission-setting process.

Staff users on FixMyStreet Pro are able to use features including:

1. Viewing all reports
2. Editing or updating reports
3. Making reports on behalf of members of the public who call or email the contact centre
4. Assigning reports to inspectors
5. Creating and editing response templates
6. Viewing and exporting report data for analysis

Fixing England’s major roads and motorways

Members of the public can use National Highways’ FixMyStreet Pro service to report non-emergency problems on motorways and major A-roads managed by the highways agency.

Relevant reports made via the national FixMyStreet service, run by our parent charity mySociety, and those made via other authorities’ dedicated FixMyStreet Pro services are diverted directly to National Highways.

Conversely, reports made via National Highways’ FixMyStreet Pro service which are actually the responsibility of another authority are also redirected to reduce avoidable contact and failure demand. 

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Like all of SocietyWorks’ solutions, FixMyStreet Pro can be integrated via API with any combination of back end systems, from CRM to asset management to single sign on.

Find out about how integrations work or get in touch for more information.

A new integration has been completed into Camden Council’s FixMyStreet Pro service to enable reports of problems relating to trees to be sent directly into Confirm OnDemand, the asset management system used by Camden to manage its tree assets.

Being able to send reports directly into Confirm OnDemand instead of via email means FixMyStreet Pro can receive automatic updates to be shared with report-makers, helping Camden to manage expectations, improve the user experience and reduce failure demand.

The integration also enables the display of individual trees on the FixMyStreet Pro map via an asset layer, which helps report-makers accurately select the tree they need to report. 

Camden Council’s FixMyStreet Pro service launched in 2023 and is already integrated with Symology Insight for the seamless sharing of report data for other street, highway and environment defect categories. 

Ilesh Chavda, Head of Applications at Camden Council, said: “We’re really pleased to have integrated FixMyStreet Pro with our Confirm OnDemand back-office solution. This will help to create a more efficient and seamless experience for our citizens, when it comes to reporting Tree-related faults.”

Angela Dixon, Managing Director at SocietyWorks, said: “Among its many benefits is FixMyStreet Pro’s ability to bridge gaps between different local authority service areas, while at the same time being able to flex around the individual needs of those services. We’re pleased to have been able to support Camden in extending the functionality of their FixMyStreet Pro service and creating consistency for users.”

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Find out more about FixMyStreet Pro or contact us to request a demo with the team.

At SocietyWorks we believe in transparency. One of the ways we live this value is by working in the open, and giving our team members space on our blog to write about what they’re working on, something they’re interested in or even perhaps a mistake or challenge they’ve learned from.

In this blog post our managing director, Angela Dixon, shares some thoughts on what failure means in the civic tech space, and what we can learn from it.

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Over the past week, I’ve been having an incredibly thought provoking dialogue with a truly awesome mind, Matthew Somerville (aka dracos; aka the traintimes guy; aka civic tech pioneer; aka Head of Development, SocietyWorks). 

The question… What does ‘failure’ mean in civic tech?

Two serendipitous strands of thought and activity led us here. Firstly, I recently decided that in order to make better decisions as we move into the future for SocietyWorks, I had to better understand its past, which is rooted in mySociety’s rich history. Thankfully, this history has been documented across two decades on mySociety’s blog; a riveting read uncovering hidden treasures and heroic feats from the early civic tech pioneers. Secondly, Matthew was interested in responding to a call for participation in a Workshop of Discontinued Civic Tech exploring this very question.

I’ve been at mySociety for three years now. I am not a techie. I am the person who talks about strategy, business cases, investment for growth and impact. All the annoying stuff amongst a group of nimble fingered, creative minded, agile spirited engineers who can design, build, and iterate citizen centric digital services at an astonishing speed. So it’s always intriguing when a question has the power to bring together different world perspectives as we seek shared understanding.

You probably know that the mySociety of now continues to run the widely used sites: 

• WhatDoTheyKnow (FOI request site); 
• TheyWorkForYou (parliamentary monitoring site);
• WriteToThem (communicating with your representatives); 
• FixMyStreet (street and environment fault reporting); 
• MapIt (geographic boundaries mapping). 

In more recent years, we have added climate focused initiatives, including Climate Action Plan Explorer; Neighbourhood Warmth, and Local Intelligence Hub. Research has continued across the years, with all activity focused on a vision of a transparent, resilient democracy; and a mission of using our data and digital skills to put more power in more people’s hands so that together we can build a fairer, safer future.

Our current sites could be considered civic tech successes, if we define success as: 

1. over 30 million sessions across our sites each year; 
2. continued existence of our sites in spite of the odds stacked against maintaining important infrastructural civic technology, tech that nudges systemic change, on a shoestring budget; and 
3. wider impact in the sense of enabling other individuals and groups, by extension, to deliver important societal initiatives. 

These current sites are just a handful of the many sites and services that mySociety spun up with their wizardry over the years. Other sites were either transferred to new ownership or were closed down and consigned to the graveyard of civic tech.

A quick look back over some of the past feats of civic tech heroism by mySociety will include: 

• Mapumental (with maps that display transit time rather than distance); 
• Scenic or Not (a gamified approach to mapping aesthetic qualities across England, Scotland, and Wales); 
• Collideoscope (an initiative to create safer road infrastructure, including for cyclists); 
• FixMyTransport (identifying damaged transport infrastructure and directing reports to the responsible authorities); and
• Pledgebank (mobilising community action). Oh, Pledgebank. More on this service to come.

On my journey through the past, over and over again, I see inspirational services built, and importantly, used, by multitudes of citizens, sometimes globally. And I began to question why aren’t these services, or iterations of these services, that were in many cases well loved, still in existence today? Were they failures, if failure is to be defined as no longer in existence and no longer having impact? Some broad themes have emerged in this initial dialogue. 

Lack of resources and funding 

For sites to continue to develop and iterate in a fast moving external environment, you need competent people and maintained infrastructure to be able to do this responsibly. While we still see the sacrificial acts of civic technicians maintaining services off their own backs with altruistic motivations, there are only so many services that can be carried like this and only so many of these unique individuals about. 

In general, without funding, you can’t pay salaries for the people and the supplier costs for maintaining infrastructure for services. I know that in the early days of mySociety there were a number of initiatives employed to commercialise aspects of services with the objective of self funding. This is hard to do and often requires years of commitment and investment in order to realise returns. In the case of the aforementioned services, these strategies didn’t work out. We were fortunate that FixMyStreet did become a success story in this sense.

Running before you can walk

Perhaps some of the sites were before their time and the conditions in the world around them had not yet emerged sufficiently to allow them to reach their potential. Certainly, more commercially focused organisations would come to spot this potential and capitalise on the opportunities presented by tools such as Pledgebank (think Kickstarter and Groupon).

So back to the question, what does ‘failure’ mean in civic tech? Do we define failure as an impactful site no longer run and maintained for current and future users? Or do we see success in what it achieved whilst it could, when it was properly funded and maintained?

The extract we’ve submitted to the Workshop of Discontinued Civic Tech focuses on Pledgebank. It could have been another project, but Matthew had me rambling on about how the community engagement and activating approach is still relevant today, a problem that has not yet been solved by society at large in the context of citizen voice and community action. 

Here is the extract…

“PledgeBank was a website run by the UK charity mySociety from 2005 to 2015.

It let people set up pledges in the form: ‘I will do something, but only if a certain number of people will help me’ – one of the earliest attempts to use the internet to gather people together in a common cause, getting them past the barrier of acting alone; a model which was later used to great effect by Groupon, Kickstarter and similar sites.

Translated into 14 languages, with early features such as SMS signing, PDF poster generation and local alerts, PledgeBank was used for pledges as wide-ranging as collecting underwear for orphans in Liberia, donating books to create a town library in India, setting up the Open Rights Group in the United Kingdom, raising money to rebuild a furniture store after riots, and burying buckets to create homes for stag beetles.

The site never grew as much as we might have hoped, and was closed after running for ten years, due to mySociety concentrating on its core sites and international partnerships at the time. I will provide information on its successes and failures, going into possible reasons for its failure.”

As we come closer to landing, I’m going to disappoint by not providing a three point summary defining what failure in civic tech looks like to me. Rather, I’m going to leave it as a question for ongoing pondering, and I’m certainly interested in the reflections of others.

If we get the opportunity to present at the Workshop of Discontinued Civic Tech, Matthew has promised to follow up with a post to share his reflections on this, and perhaps we’ll be able to converge on a definition. [edit: read Matthew’s follow up post]

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Connect with Angela on LinkedIn, or drop her an email (angela@mysociety.org) if you’d like to discuss your own definition of and learnings from civic tech failures.

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Image: Jonathan Farber on Unsplash

FixMyStreet Pro has several features that are designed to help authorities prevent avoidable contact and report duplication.

Let’s look at some of them below.

Communicate your maintenance schedules

FixMyStreet Pro enables you to inform report-makers of your maintenance schedules to help manage their expectations at the point of making a report.

For example, Gloucestershire County Council has configured its FixMyStreet Pro workflow so that when a user selects a certain category, such as grass cutting, a message is displayed to explain more about when grass cutting happens, along with a signpost to further information.

By doing this, members of the public can feel confident in not needing to report something that is already on your radar.

Show exactly which issues you’re aware of…

As a map-based reporting solution, FixMyStreet Pro displays existing reports on the map publicly so that anyone can see what has already been reported.

Potential duplicates are actively suggested to users at the point of making a report, and interested members of the public can subscribe to existing reports to receive updates on their progress. 

Different map pins can be used to represent different types of issues. If we use Gloucestershire again as our example, as well as displaying problems reported by residents, the highways team uses blue map pins to represent specific issues raised internally by staff or contractors.

The data to generate these special map pins is shared directly from the council’s integrated system via an API.

Using map pins in this way helps to demonstrate commitment from the council to find and resolve problems, and further supports the avoidance of duplication. 

…and even those you’re not responsible for!

Cleverly, thanks to FixMyStreet Pro’s connection to the national FixMyStreet service, you can also display issues that have been reported in your area but are the responsibility of another authority.

For example, Lincolnshire County Council displays on its FixMyStreet Pro service grey map pins to represent issues that have been diverted to Lincoln City Council.

Members of the public do not always know who’s responsible for fixing different problems, and in places where more than one level of authority covers the same area, this is a great way to increase transparency and, of course, reduce unnecessary and incorrect contact.

Display site messaging

Messaging can be displayed in various places across an installation of FixMyStreet Pro, such as on the homepage or as part of the reporting workflow.

This functionality can be used to share information about significant upcoming works, or to advise of specific actions due to be taken.

For example, you can provide notice of upcoming roadworks on a particular road when a user starts a report in that location and selects a category associated with road maintenance. Here’s an example of how Bromley Council does this:

Or you can display messaging on the homepage to explain any changes to scheduled maintenance during particular seasons, such as to advise on grass cutting schedules during spring and summer, or gritting during the winter months.

These messages can be managed by staff with the associated permissions from the administration dashboard.

Tailored response templates

Another good way to prevent unnecessary contact via FixMyStreet Pro is within responses to reports where it is appropriate to do so.

An example of this in practice can be found on Buckinghamshire Council’s FixMyStreet Pro in response to reports of overflowing bins, advising of the schedule on which bins are emptied and changing the status of the report to ‘action scheduled’. 

As well as being published on the map, responses are sent directly to report-makers and to anyone else who has subscribed to the report.

This enables members of the public to see what’s being done and educate for future reference.

Response templates can be managed either from the FixMyStreet Pro administration dashboard, or they can be shared directly from an integrated CRM or asset management system via API integration.

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For more information about FixMyStreet Pro and how it works, get in touch with our team. 

Surrey County Council has switched to using SocietyWorks’ FixMyStreet Pro solution for managing street and highway fault reports from residents. 

SocietyWorks is pleased to be working in collaboration with Surrey County Council to provide a dedicated installation of FixMyStreet Pro, which replaces the Council’s existing online reporting system for problems such as potholes, grass cutting and blocked drains. 

Surrey’s FixMyStreet Pro is integrated with Boomi, the system used by the Council to link together its various backend management systems, such as Confirm, used for asset management, and Zendesk, the CRM system. Connected via an API, FixMyStreet Pro facilitates a two-way flow of communication between report-makers and the Council, making it easier to keep people informed on report progress. 

As a map-based reporting solution, FixMyStreet Pro displays individual assets such as street lights and drains to increase the accuracy of reports. Assets for Surrey are shared with FixMyStreet Pro directly from the Council’s map server.

Members of the public are able to view existing reports on the map and can subscribe to updates on any which are of interest. Jobs raised internally by council staff are also displayed on the map via the API integration with Boomi.

Additionally, FixMyStreet Pro suggests potential duplicates to users at the point of making a report and encourages them to subscribe to the existing report to help reduce unnecessary contact.  

Through its connection to the national FixMyStreet service, run by SocietyWorks’ parent charity mySociety, Surrey County Council’s FixMyStreet Pro is able to automatically divert reports of issues that are the responsibility of another neighbouring authority.

Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth, said: “We’re very aware that well-maintained roads are highly important to our residents. This is why here in Surrey, we’re investing nearly £300m in repairing and improving Surrey’s roads and pavements by 2028.

Introducing the ‘FixMyStreet’ platform is another example of our continued investment in our vital highways service. This new reporting platform will make it easier for people to report potholes and other defects, and to check the progress of all repairs in their local area.

Keeping Surrey’s busy road network moving and investing in improving our roads continue to be top priorities for Surrey County Council.”

Angela Dixon, Managing Director at SocietyWorks, said: “It’s great to welcome Surrey County Council into our lively community of FixMyStreet Pro users. This solution is, and always has been developed in partnership with the councils using it, and we look forward to including Surrey’s voice when shaping its future.”

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The technology behind FixMyStreet Pro has been helping councils and other public bodies to transform fault reporting and rebuild trust with citizens for over 17 years now.  Find out more about how it could work for you.

We have a busy schedule of events coming up over the next few months, and we’d love to see you at some of them!

Take a look at where you’ll find some of the SocietyWorks team this autumn:

LocalGovCamp, Birmingham

26 September

We’re returning to LocalGovCamp this year as a workshop sponsor, where Bekki Leaver, Head of Product, and Matthew Somerville, Head of Development, will be in attendance. 

Matthew has been involved with mySociety since the early days of the charity and is the brains behind many of our most well-used services. Meanwhile, Bekki has a wealth of experience in civic service design and development, and will be leading a workshop on how to help your teams through transitions and remove barriers to digital transformation.

Definitely go and pick their brains if you cross paths!

Find out more.

Strictly Highways, Blackpool

1 – 3 October

We’re very excited to be sponsoring and exhibiting at the Local Council Roads and Innovation Group’s (LCRIG) Strictly Highways conference for the first time. 

Swing by stand 38 for a chat over a tea and some biscuits with Amelia Nicholas, Head of Client Partnerships, and Sally Reader, Account Manager. Ask them everything you’ve ever wanted to know about FixMyStreet Pro and how it helps councils, highways agencies and other public sector organisations to transform highways fault reporting for the better. 

Register your ticket.

Highways UK, Birmingham 

16 – 17 October

Join us once again at the NEC in Birmingham for Highways UK, where we’ll be exhibiting our FixMyStreet Pro solution from stand 281A.

Do come and see us, and stay for chat over a coffee from our on-stand barista. Amelia Nicholas, Head of Client Partnerships, will be there on both days, joined by Sally Bracegirdle, Marketing Manager, and Sally Reader, Account Manager.

Highways UK is always such a busy conference, so if you’re attending and you want to meet, please do let us know when you’ll be around so we don’t miss you!

Get your tickets.

APSE Waste and Recycling Management Seminar, Nottingham

1 7 October

While Amelia and the two Sallys will be talking all things streets and highways at Highways UK, our two other account managers Chris Edwards and Nicolle Whitehead will be focusing on residential waste management at the APSE Waste and Recycling Management Seminar.

If reducing unnecessary contact and improving the customer experience for your residential waste service is something you need help achieving, head  over to our stand and speak to Chris and Nicolle about WasteWorks. Ask them about integrations, preemptive messaging and anything else that’s challenging you at the moment when it comes to residential waste. 

Learn more.

LGA Conference, Harrogate

22 – 24 October

After being postponed due to the general election, the LGA Conference will finally be taking place in Harrogate between 22 – 24 October and we’ll be there as usual at stand Q59. 

Come over and talk to us about improving interactions with citizens and aiding digital transformation across a variety of service areas, from highways and waste, to FOI and licensing. 

Amelia, Sally B and Chris will be joined by Julia Cushion, Policy & Advocacy Manager at our parent charity mySociety. She’s hoping to hear councils’ thoughts and challenges around data, public engagement, and responding to the climate crisis. She’ll also be sharing useful tools and resources that can support progress at the local level.

Sign up and join us there.

GovCampCymru, Cardiff

8 November

We’re delighted to be sponsoring GovCampCymru for the second year running. Amelia will be there on the day, along with some of our other Wales-based team members. 

Like last year we’re hoping to be inspired by all the unconference sessions and, hopefully, provide some inspiration of our own! 

Do say helô if you see us around. 

Find out more.

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Not going to be at any of those events but want to chat to us about citizen-centred, open source civic services? Drop us a message and we’ll get back to you. 

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Image: Nick Fewings on Unsplash

All categories, or all subcategories within a parent category can now be viewed via a toggle on FixMyStreet Pro, making it easier and quicker to navigate to the reports in which you are interested.

Categories on FixMyStreet Pro

From potholes to grass cutting to stile maintenance and beyond, public authorities can accept reports about a vast range of problems via FixMyStreet Pro. Essentially, if it’s a place-based problem that can be plotted on a map and for which you would be responsible for fixing, it can be incorporated into your FixMyStreet Pro service. 

This is good news for everyone, because it means there’s only one user experience no matter what you want to report. Naturally though, the more categories you have to choose from, the harder it might be to find the one you need.

Keeping things simple

To mitigate the risk of category-related overwhelm for report-makers and staff users, we introduced the ability to search for categories via a search bar. We also have parent categories under which authorities can assign related subcategories to make it easier for report-makers to select the most appropriate one for their report. 

Earlier this year we updated the way categories are filtered from the administration area to give staff users with the associated permissions the option to select groups of reports via parent categories or even select multiple categories at once for export.

Following this, we have introduced the ability to toggle categories when viewing them from within the reporting workflow, from the ‘All reports’ page and from the heatmap. 

Category toggling

Let’s say, for example, you want to view on the map all reports relating to parks maintenance issues, such as full litter bins, fly-tipping and path cleaning. Instead of having to manually select the relevant categories, you can instead select the parent category ‘Parks maintenance’ and all associated categories will be toggled. Once you’re done, click the parent category again to deselect all associated categories. 

Equally, if you want to view reports from all available categories, you can click ‘Everything’ at the top of the list to select all categories, and click again to deselect them all.

Watch a very short demonstration video below:

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Categories on FixMyStreet and FixMyStreet Pro are dictated by the authority using the service to reflect the issues they can deal with. Where an integration into a backend system is in place, categories on FixMyStreet Pro correspond to those within the integrated system.

For more information about how the service works, please get in touch.