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Service alerts for each resident's own block

Street sweeping, trash and recycling, leaf collection and snow, matched to the resident's address and license plate, and sent by text, email or app. Fewer residents call to ask when the truck is coming.

We built it in 2017 for the DC Department of Public Works, and it has been in use ever since. Residents there know it as MyDPW.

Request a demo Our other product: SimplyScholar
An example street sweeping alert on a resident's phone A phone lock screen at 7:02 on a Wednesday with two alerts from Public Works. The newest: Street sweeping tomorrow. Your side of the block is swept Thursday, 9 to 11 am. Move your car by 9 am to avoid a ticket. An earlier one, from Monday: Trash and recycling. Collection moves to Saturday this week. Wednesday 7:02 PUBLIC WORKS now Street sweeping tomorrow Your side of the block is swept Thursday, 9 to 11 am. Move your car by 9 am to avoid a ticket. PUBLIC WORKS Mon Trash and recycling Collection moves to Saturday this week.
Example alert

Alerts matched to each address

Most notification tools send the same message to everyone. A resident gets a street sweeping alert for half the city, decides it does not apply to them, and gets a parking ticket on Thursday. Then they call the department, which is the cost the alert was meant to prevent.

We use the department's own route maps. When a resident signs up, their address is matched to the trash, recycling and street sweeping routes it sits in. When staff send an alert, they pick the routes it is about, and only the addresses inside those routes get it. Parking alerts are matched by license plate instead.

An alert sent only to the routes it is about An illustration, not a real map. A city street grid is divided into six collection routes, lettered A to F, and each dot is a resident's address, placed inside its route when the resident signed up. Beside the map, staff write an alert that trash pickup is a day late and pick routes B and F. Only the addresses inside routes B and F receive it, by text, email or app, whichever each resident chose. The addresses in the other four routes receive nothing. NEW ALERT Trash pickup on your route is a day late. SEND TO ROUTES Route B Route F EACH RESIDENT'S CHOICE Text Email App Goes only to addresses inside the routes picked. Send alert A B C D E F Inside a picked route: gets the alert Outside: hears nothing Route boundary from the city's map data
Staff pick the routes an alert is about. Only the addresses inside those routes get it, by text, email or app, whichever each resident chose. Everyone else hears nothing.

What it does

A campaign for each service
Each service has its own campaign, with its own schedule, messages and audience: trash and recycling, street sweeping, leaf collection and snow. Reminders, cancellations and service disruptions are separate messages, so a canceled day never uses the reminder text.
Matched by location
Each address is matched to the department's own routes. Parking alerts are matched by license plate, and one-time messages can go to any group of residents the department selects.
Seasons, holidays and exceptions
Leaf collection runs in the fall and street sweeping in the spring. Schedules follow calendar rules, with holiday and exception dates for the weeks that are different.
Three channels, one subscription
Text, email and app notifications. Residents choose their channels, and the department manages one list instead of three. Each department has its own delivery settings, and a test mode lets staff try a new campaign on real data without sending anything to residents.
Where residents manage it
A website, and apps for iPhone and Android. Residents add an address, choose their services and channels, and see the next collection date for each service. They sign in with a code sent to their phone or email, so there is no password to remember.
Each department gets its own setup
Its own web address, branding, message templates, delivery settings and message queues, all on one shared system.

In use in Washington, DC since 2017

We built it in 2017 for the DC Department of Public Works, and it has run every season since. Each fall the leaf collection campaign starts, and each spring street sweeping takes over.

Built and still supported by our founder

Our founder wrote the original 2017 system and still supports it, so you would talk to him directly. It has had several major technical upgrades since then, all made by the person who wrote it.

The contractor is well versed in database design and system architecture.

David Koehler Deputy Chief Information Officer, DC Department of Public Works

Keep reading

Which service do residents call about most?

Start with that one. In a 30-minute demo, we will show you service alerts on a live system and explain what it takes to set up your routes.

Request a demo