County Council pushes communications boundaries
This time last year Warwickshire County Council became the first local authority in the country to offer a free app on the iPhone, and now the boundaries are being pushed once more.
As part of the county council’s mission to reach as many people as possible with information and guidance, many more smartphone owners can now quickly access information.
This new mobile application includes the functions of the original iPhone app to help people find out about the county council’s news and services.
But it will also now include information on county councillors and provides a new, handy way to browse our library catalogue from the comfort of wherever you happen to be..
To use the new application, simply open the phone’s browser and navigate to the address touch.warwickshire.gov.uk - the application will work on the Apple iPhone, any device running Google Android version 2 or above and Blackberry OS version 6.
Hundreds of people have downloaded the iPhone app in the last year, benefitting from its easy navigation and location function, which allows the app to work out where the user is and tell them instantly where nearest facilities are, such as country parks or recycling centres.
It contains up to the minute news and events information, details on how to find key services, and help in contacting the authority.
More information about downloading the iPhone app for free and other ways to stay up to date is available from the Warwickshire website at http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/iphone
Features of the iPhone application include:
up to the minute news stories and local events from Warwickshire County Council;
information on all job vacancies with the organisation;
information on school closures within Warwickshire;
information on Warwickshire services, including recycling, museums, libraries, country parks and one-stop shops;
the ability to find your nearest service, locate it on a map or even get directions from your current location.
The development of the new mobile application and the iPhone app is part of the council’s work into looking at how best to use new technologies.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Resources, said: “We are determined to keep up with developing technologies in a way that is useful for Warwickshire people.
“The iPhone app has been a great success and I look forward to many more smartphone users benefitting from this latest development.”
More information about the council’s other work looking at how new technologies can be used to deliver better services in future is available from the ICT Strategy blog (http://abigbang.wordpress.com/).