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From the people who brought you KildareStreet.com
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is FixMyStreet?
- FixMyStreet is a site to help people report, view, or discuss local problems they’ve found to their local council by simply locating them on a map.
- What sort of problems should I report with FixMyStreet?
- FixMyStreet is primarily for reporting things which are
broken or dirty or damaged or dumped, and need fixing, cleaning
or clearing, such as:
- Abandoned vehicles
- Dog Fouling
- Flyposting or graffiti
- Illegal dumping or litter
- Streetcleaning, such as broken glass in a cycle lane
- Unlit lamposts
- Potholes
- What isn’t FixMyStreet for?
- FixMyStreet is not a way of getting in touch with your council for all
issues – please use FixMyStreet only for problems such as the above. You will need to contact your council
directly for problems such as:
- Anti-social behaviour
- Any urgent or emergency problems
- Noise pollution or barking dogs
- Fires and smoke/smell pollution
- Proposals for speed bumps/ CCTV/ pedestrian crossings/ new road layouts/ etc.
- Complaining about your neighbours
- Complaining about the council
- Joy riding, drug taking, animal cruelty, or other criminal activity
Some councils have direct hotlines for these sorts of issues.
- How do I use the site?
- After entering a postcode or location, you are presented with a map of that area. You can view problems already reported in that area, or report ones of your own simply by clicking on the map at the location of the problem.
- How are the problems solved?
- They are reported to the relevant council by email. The council can then resolve the problem the way they normally would. Alternatively, you can discuss the problem on the website with others, and then together lobby the council to fix it, or fix it directly yourselves.
- Is it free?
- The site is free to use, yes. FixMyStreet is run by volunteers, though, so do please bear that in mind if you're contacting us.
- Can I use FixMyStreet on my mobile?
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The FixMyStreet website should work on your mobile phone, adapting to the size of your screen automatically. We plan to release updated native apps in the near future.
- Android: A volunteer, Anna Powell-Smith, has written an app available from the Android Market.
Practical Questions
- I’m from a council, where do you send the reports?
- You can either leave a test report or contact us to find out where reports go at the moment. Also contact us to update the address or addresses we use. If your council is part of the FixYourStreet.ie trial project, you'll find reports made here are posted directly to there.
- I’m from a council, can we have FixMyStreet on our website?
- Yes you can! We offer branded, hosted versions of FixMyStreet for local council websites. Contact us for full details.
- Do you remove silly or illegal content?
- FixMyStreet is not responsible for the content and accuracy of material submitted by its users. We reserve the right to edit or remove any problems or updates which we consider to be inappropriate upon being informed by a user of the site.
- Why can’t I zoom out more on the reporting map?
- We want to keep FixMyStreet locally focused, so restrict the ability to move radically between areas. The map on Your Reports will let you see all the reports you’ve made, wherever they are. If you’re from the council then the emailed version of the problem report also contains the closest road and postcode to the pin on the map.
- Who gets to see my email address?
- If you submit a problem, we pass on your details, and details of the problem, to the council contact or contacts responsible for the area where you located the problem. Other than the council, who obviously get your email address, only people we authorise to view the FixMyStreet administration interface will be able to see your email address and they will never use it for anything other than to help administer FixMyStreet. Similarly with email addresses from updates. We will never give or sell your email address to anyone else, unless we are obliged to by law. Your name will not be published anywhere unless you let us.
- Will you send nasty, brutish spam to my email address?
- Never. We will email you if someone leaves an update on a problem you’ve reported, and may you a questionnaire email four weeks after you submit a problem, asking for a status update; we’ll only ever send you emails in relation to your problem.
- Who built FixMyStreet?
- This site was built by John Handelaar using code developed by mySociety in the UK.
- Who pays for it?
- Sabrina Dent and John Handelaar.
- Do you need any help with the project?
- Yes, we can use help in all sorts of ways, technical or non-technical. Please see our contact page.
- I’d like a site like this for my own location/ where’s the "source code" to this site?
- The software behind this site is open source, and available to you mainly under the GNU Affero GPL software license. You can download the source code and help us develop it
- I’d prefer code in a different language?
- VisibleGovernment.ca wrote their own code for http://www.fixmystreet.ca/, which is written in GeoDjango and available under an MIT licence at github. Or FixMyStreet.org.nz is written in Drupal.
