Inspiration

What it does

How we built it

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for Civic Complaint Memory and Accountability System

About the Project – Civic Complaint Memory and Accountability System

Inspiration

The inspiration behind our project came from observing common civic problems such as potholes, overflowing garbage, blocked drains, and broken streetlights. Often, these problems are temporarily fixed but reappear after a few days. Previous complaints and repair history are not always considered, motivating us to build a system that remembers recurring problems.

What We Learned

Through this project, we learned how to identify real-world problems and convert them into practical technology solutions. We explored web development, database management, complaint tracking, location-based services, and the importance of transparency and accountability in public services.

How We Built It

We designed a web-based application where citizens can report civic issues by uploading photos and providing location details. The system maintains complaint history, links repeated complaints from similar locations, and allows citizens to upvote existing issues. It also includes priority assignment, deadline tracking, department routing, before-and-after photo evidence, and a recurring-issue heat map to help authorities identify locations that need permanent solutions.

We planned the application using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the frontend, Java with Spring Boot for backend development, MySQL for database management, and Leaflet Maps or Google Maps for location visualization.

Challenges We Faced

One of our main challenges was designing a reliable way to identify repeated complaints at nearly the same location without creating unnecessary duplicates. Maintaining complaint history, tracking resolution evidence, assigning priorities, and visualizing recurring issues were also important challenges in designing the system.

Impact

Our goal is to move beyond simply reporting civic problems. By maintaining complaint memory and highlighting recurring issues, our system aims to improve transparency, strengthen accountability, and encourage authorities to focus on permanent solutions rather than repeated temporary repairs.