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Citizen smart city platform expands to support local tourism
The privately funded South African platform has added an In the City function that aims to encourage citizens to better connect with and explore local attractions and places of interest.
The privately funded My Smart City citizen platform in South Africa has expanded its service with an “In the City” function to help boost local tourism.
My Smart City, developed and implemented by South African-based Acumen Software, is a citizen-centred platform where residents can effect change by logging service delivery issues and tracking resolutions to their queries in real-time.
Community members
In a follow up to the recent social feed, which shares information like load shedding schedules and alerts from other community members, the In the City functionality offers four new categories of information:
- Local insights: citizens can view reports and statistics on issue resolution. The breakdown includes the number of problems fixed, the time to fix them, an age analysis of open issues and how their ward or city compares to others.
- Purchases: this function opens access to value-added services (VAS) with in-app purchases of airtime, data and lotto tickets. In-app purchases can be made with peace of mind, as the infrastructure is a secure and encrypted payment solution. Soon users will be able to purchase prepaid electricity.
- Places of interest: functionality introduces a digital directory with information on tourist attractions such as landmarks, galleries, parks, and museums. All the attraction details, like trading hours, location and more, will be available.
- What’s on in your city: access information on social, sporting and music events with seamless booking and payment functionality.
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“We are excited about the ‘what’s on in your city’ and places of interest categories with the potential to build local tourism. South Africa’s tourism industry was one of the hardest hit during the pandemic. With In the City features, citizens are encouraged to explore their cities and support local tourism,” said Kennedy Mogotsi, chief operating officer of Acumen Software.
“One of our goals has always been to encourage active citizenry whereby users become agents of change. This feature enables users to pinpoint issues, share problem-solving ideas and support municipalities through active citizenship”
The new functionality encourages active citizenry through its “local insights” category. With access to insights into municipal wards’ performance, citizens can educate themselves on what’s going on in their neighbourhoods and compare their wards’ performance to others. This insight promotes transparency and accountability and strengthens the voice of citizens.
“One of our goals has always been to encourage active citizenry whereby users become agents of change. This feature enables users to pinpoint issues, share problem-solving ideas and support municipalities through active citizenship,” added Joao Zoio, CEO of Acumen Software.
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How does the In the City function enhance local tourism engagement?What types of local insights are provided to promote citizen accountability?How does the platform ensure secure in-app purchases for users?In what ways can citizens use the platform to support municipal services?How does the digital directory improve access to cultural and tourist sites?Acumen Softwarecitizen engagementCultural spaceEconomy and financeGovernance and CitizenSouth Africa
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