City of Bloomington Receives 2015 Digital Cities Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 6, 2015

For more information, please contact:

Rick Dietz, Director, Information and Technology Services, dietzr@bloomington.in.gov, 812.671.0076

City of Bloomington Receives 2015 Digital Cities Award

​Bloomington, Ind. - On Thursday, Nov. 5, the City of Bloomington was named a recipient of a 2015 Digital Cities Award for cities of population size of 75,000-125,000. The Center for Digital Government found the City to be in the top 10 nationally for its IT initiatives. The City's application covered several city IT initiatives including inRoads, uReport, the Dispatch Center move and CAD/RMS Software transition, the City's website alpha, MyBloomington, Kuali Time and the Certified Tech Park (Trades District).

"Many employees throughout the City have contributed directly or indirectly to these projects, so I would like to thank ITS and everyone else for all of the work that they have done to make this award possible," said Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan.

The Center for Digital Government specifically recognized these City projects in the award:

• GeoReporter 311 App: In Bloomington, a city of about 80,000, apps are cause to celebrate. Judges in this year's Digital Cities Survey found its GeoReporter 311 app, which can connect to any standards-compliant Open311 endpoint, impressive and easy to use. And with the source code freely available on GitHub, any city can deploy its own version of the app.

• Transit Bus Tracking App: Judges also took note of Bloomington's Transit Bus Tracking app, a live bus mapping solution created by a partnership between the Indiana University Bus Service and intelligent transportation solution provider DoubleMap.

• RentRocket: The CDG particular noted the City's outstanding public service when it comes to housing rentals: RentRocket is a sustainable rental housing tool, which lets users see and compare not only basic amenities, but also utility costs, accessibility to alternative modes of transit and recycling options to make housing decisions that align with their values and fit their budgets. Thanks to an Innovation Fund grant from the Urban Sustainability Directors Network and Global Philanthropy Partnership, RentRocket was born. Bloomington leads the project in partnership with 13 other cities.

"We're honored by this award not only because of the recognition for our work in ITS, but the recognition of partnerships with other City Departments to put IT to work for our residents," said ITS director Rick Dietz. "This award recognizes the depth of our information technology initiatives in Bloomington."

The complete list of winners is online here.

About the Center for Digital Government

The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. CDG is a division of e.Republic, the nation's only media and research company focused exclusively

on state and local government and education. For more information on the CDG, please contact Margaret Mohr, Chief Marketing Officer at e.republic's Center for Digital Government by email at mmohr@erepublic.com or call 916.932.1364.

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