OurStreets started as an app on which to report dangerous driving, now it’ll report on essential pandemic supplies.
OurStreets, the DC-based app to report dangerous driving, has been quietly available for download on Android and iPhone since January, its creator Mark Sussman was getting ready for its official launch until recently but then came coronavirus.
With all stores closing down and the Nation’s capitol basically turned into a traffic-free ghost town an app reporting on traffic doesn’t seem to make much sense at the moment. So Sussman and the OurStreets team is turning the app from a traffic one to a pandemic-supply one. The app’s goal? Provide a “community-driven platform for consumers, retailers, and policy makers that helps minimize the spread of COVID-19.”
.@OurStreetsApp is launching OurStreets Supplies to crowdsource level of vital supplies at retailers across the world to minimize the spread of #COVID19. More here: https://t.co/IedPJwSEbZ pic.twitter.com/gl3iBb899L
— OurStreets (@OurStreetsApp) March 23, 2020
Here’s how the app will work: Users will be asked to select the supply that they’re shopping for, take a picture of it on the shelves and report on the item’s status (sold out, fully stocked or somewhere in between). They will also be asked to make a note on whether they could practice safe social distancing or not.
Once the team receives enough reports, all the information will be then put into a live city map displaying individual user reports both in the app and on their website. Supplies displayed on the map will include pandemic essentials such as medicines, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, diapers and fresh vegetables, among others.
OurStreets Supplies will officially launch next week and will be available for free download for users, retailers and municipalities.
Feature image: Nathália Rosa, Unsplash