Inspiration
We noticed that small problems in our surroundings are often easy to see but surprisingly difficult to report and follow up on.
A broken streetlight, damaged road, overflowing bin, water leak, or other local issue might be noticed by many people, but there is often no simple way to turn those observations into clear, useful information.
That inspired us to build SpotFix — a simple way for people to report problems using the evidence they already have: a photo and a location.
What it does
SpotFix lets users report problems in their community and keep track of them.
A user can capture an issue, add its location, and submit it. Reports can then be organized and verified so that repeated reports of the same problem become easier to identify.
The main goal was to make reporting something wrong around you as simple as possible.
Try it here:
How we built it
We built SpotFix as a mobile-friendly web application with a strong focus on simplicity and usability.
The application combines photo evidence, location information, issue reports, verification, and visual dashboards to make local problems easier to understand.
We spent a lot of time on the interface because we wanted someone to be able to open the application and immediately understand what to do without needing instructions.
What we learned
We learned that building a useful product is not always about adding the most features.
The biggest improvement came from thinking about how to remove unnecessary steps for the user.
We also learned how important it is to combine different pieces of information. A photo can show what happened, while location and multiple reports provide additional context and make the information more useful.
Challenges
One of our biggest challenges was keeping the application simple while still providing enough information to make reports useful.
We also had to think carefully about how reports, locations, evidence, and verification should be presented without overwhelming the user.
This pushed us to focus heavily on the user experience and create a product that feels straightforward even when there is a lot of information behind it.
What we hope to achieve
SpotFix is built around a simple idea:
If reporting a problem is easy, more people will speak up about the problems around them.
We hope SpotFix can help communities turn everyday observations into organized information that can eventually lead to action.
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