City Support Vehicle
Our new City Support Vehicle is part of a pilot program to help keep our neighborhoods clean and safe.
The car has cameras that take pictures while staff drive around the City—similar to a Google Maps car. The cameras take pictures of buildings, lots, homes and structures.
Just Another Member of 311
The City Support Vehicle is like adding another teammate to 311—it helps us spot and address issues before complaints need to be made. The goal is for the City to be more proactive.
Residents should continue to submit service requests through 311. This helps us prioritize requests, even if it's spotted by the car.
How it Works
We have partnered with City Detect, a company with a mission to make cities cleaner, safer, and more efficient using AI technology. The cameras capture images and then use computer vision and AI to analyze images of city properties, identifying issues to provide real-time insights for local governments.
The Hardware
- 2 cameras mounted on top of the car, one facing each side
- Cameras take pictures from the street as the car drives (25-35 MPH)
- The pictures are sent from the camera to a cloud-based software over the cell phone network
- There is currently one Citizen Support Vehicle, and it is clearly branded
The Software
- Software "looks" at the pictures and detects potential issues using computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI)
- City staff have a portal to log-in and review images and identify issues
- We can collect details about a potential issue and track changes over time
The city will not cite residents from photos alone. An inspector always follows up in person after a photo is reviewed and before issuing a violation notice.
In Use
- Staff use images to track parcel conditions through pictures over time
- Staff use images to prioritize work
Residents should continue to submit service requests through 311. This helps us prioritize requests, even if it's spotted by the car.
FAQs
Our new City Support Vehicle as part of a pilot program to help keep our neighborhoods clean and safe—it helps us spot and address issues before complaints need to be made. The goal is for the City to be more proactive.
The City Support Vehicle allows the City to track changes in property condition over time, which will help us better manage vacant properties and ensure that we are getting them into our vacant building registry and dealing with open vacant buildings faster.
No, the City Support Vehicle does not replace 311!
The car helps us spot problems so we can fix them faster. Additionally, not all problems are called into 311 and the City is working to be more proactive in finding and fixing issues.
Residents should continue to submit service requests through 311. This helps us prioritize requests, even if it's spotted by the car.
The goal is for the City Support Car to drive the entire City as often as possible, Monday through Friday during business hours.
We estimate it will take about 6 weeks to cover the entire city, depending on weather.
The car is driven by current City staff who are focused on quality control.
Their technology can identify 140+ potential property issues. Examples of things the camera can "see" include:
| Awning | Foundation | Roof | Debris |
| Bad Picture | Garage | Shutter | Debris Fields |
| Chimney | Gutter | Sidewalk | Graffiti |
| Column | Lawn | Soffit | Tires |
| Door | Mailbox | Stairs | Litter |
| Driveway | Porch | Vent | |
| Fascia | Railing | Wall | |
| Fence | Retaining Wall | Window |
Issues reported to 311 and spotted by the City Support Car are handled similarly.
- People make a complaint (e.g., through 311) OR the car spots an issue
- Staff enter the complaint into the system
- The inspector drives out to the property to take a look
- Violation Notice (VN) or Work Order Issued if needed
- The issue is addressed, or a violation is issued
- Code inspector drives back out to assess to close the issue AND car drives by again to capture a new image
The City will not cite residents from the photos alone. An inspector will always follow up in person after a photo is reviewed and before a violation notice is issued.
The City Support Vehicle does not intentionally take photos of people or cars. Our focus is on buildings, lots, homes and structures.
Faces and license plates are blurred in the images that are viewed by City staff.
There is currently one City Support Vehicle and it is clearly branded.
The City has received an $85,000 Rocket Community Fund Grant for 1-year for the Pilot Program. This grant pays for the City Detect hardware (cameras), software, and branding the car.
The City used a car that was already in the fleet and is driven by current City staff.