- Mobile
- Web
- CMS
The CoquitlamConnect citizen engagement app was developed as a way for citizens to further engage and interact with the city of Coquitlam.
Developed for
Project Summary
Located in the lower mainland of British Columbia, the city of Coquitlam executed on its plan to ensure the most effective technology is being used that also meets the city’s needs now and into the future.
The CoquitlamConnect citizen engagement app was developed to allow residents and visitors alike to easily navigate the city. It allows users to not only determine the closest park to them with a swing set but also to locate Coquitlam’s sights via the augmented reality feature.
The Beginning
CoquitlamConnect was developed as part of the City of Coquitlam’s new Technology Roadmap, an initiative set to pave the way to a digital city. Coquitlam’s Information and Communications Technology division started working on their plan in 2016 with a view to making sure the most effective technology is being used, and meeting the city’s needs now and into the future. Part of this roadmap was the addition of a set of free mobile applications for Android and iOS.
The Work
In the summer of 2018, shortly after the city’s roadmap was announced and shared with the public, FreshWorks Studio won the contract to begin work on the Coquitlam mobile application. Since the city’s Information and Communications Technology division knew exactly what high level requirements they wanted to see in the final application, the Discovery Process allowed both teams — Coquitlam and FreshWorks — to quickly develop a roadmap and begin the development process.
The design and development was done in FreshWorks’ Victoria office, with regular email communication, phone calls, and a handful of in-person meetings at the city’s PMO office throughout the entire process. This ensured the development was on track and everyone was on the same page.
Once the first round of development was completed, extensive user acceptance testing (UAT) was done to ensure that requirements had been met and the app was providing the value it was intended to. A lot of stakeholders were involved in these rounds of testing and provided invaluable feedback that has helped shape the existing and future state of the application.
In addition to the two mobile application, we also developed a (Content Management System) CMS. The team at the city of Coquitlam can easily add and update the content displayed within the city mobile app through this user-friendly web interface.
I was actually born in Coquitlam, and I'm pretty proud that I was able to play such an active part in enabling the city to better address the needs of residents.
Business Analyst
The Features
The CoquitlamConnect citizen engagement app is packed with features to allow residents to easily connect with the city.
Technologies Used
The CoquitlamConnect iOS mobile application was built in the Swift programming language. The Android app is built in the Kotlin programming language. The apps are built using a Parse back end and React front end. The application is hosted on a Canadian AWS server.
What's Next?
With an always-growing catalog of desired features and functionalities the CoquitlamConnect app will continue to evolve to better serve the citizens of Coquitlam. Some of the proposed features include submitting service requests and meeting requests to city hall making it even easier for residents to connect with the city.