In a first for South Africa, the soon to be launched SHOUT App allows ordinary South Africans to make contact with emergency services and be directed to the nearest police station, hospital or fire station anywhere in the country, driven by live location aware maps. The App provides a quick and easy way for users to report a crime, its location, date and time, and will ultimately provide the SAPS and other anti-crime bodies’ valuable knowledge concerning crimes and crime patterns.   Using cutting edge mapping technology, the App also provides individuals with a simple way to identify crime hotspots and get crime updates in real time.  The App would not be complete without the capability to download the ‘You’re the Voice’ track, and make a donation to this worthy cause.

The project presented some user experience and technology challenges:

The application was built by Cytrus Technology for Android OS 2.1 (Éclair) to 2.3 (Gingerbread).  Underpinning most of the features and functionality of the App is its location-aware capability. The application uses GPS and triangulation technology to identify the location of the user and provide geographic context for most user interactions with the app.

Both power and user experience were major considerations in the design of the “recent crimes” notification feature.  This feature strikes a subtle balance between notifying the user in a way that is non-intrusive, relevant and useful without draining your battery in a few minutes.  This was achieved by taking advantage of Android’s native LBS features and giving the user choice. The application can be customized by the user to provide periodic notifications of crimes in the areas in which a user specifies or is located.

No ground-breaking app would be complete without some form of social engagement and this is particularly important when crowd sourcing content.  The SHOUT App provides a feature for the user to take a picture of him/herself (shouting hopefully) which can be posted to a photo collage on SHOUT’s Fan page.  The same photo will be posted to the user’s news feed. The intention being to drive interest and awareness about the App and the underlying cause.

To get a sneak peak of the application, go view our SHOUT showcase.