Johns Creek Smartphone App Wins Award

The city of Johns Creek recently won an Atlanta Regional Commission CREATE Community Award for its smartphone app, JC Now.

The Atlanta Regional Commission in 2004 developed the CREATE Community Awards to recognize local government leadership, excellence and innovation in six categories: Community Involvement and Collaboration, Regional Prosperity and Economic Development, Environmental Sustainability, Arts & Culture, Technology and Educational Excellence.

JC Now, released in December 2014, won the Technology category. JC Now can send emergency push notifications from the City, as well as giving the user access to all city interactive maps, news articles, City Council meeting agendas, social media and contact information.

“JC Now is a great tool to connect with our residents on several levels,” said Mayor Mike Bodker. “We are continuing to implement innovative ideas to engage with the public and JC Now is an award-winning example of how we’re making that happen.”

Custom-built by the city’s GIS (Geographic Information Systems) team, the app uses open source technology. Its main function is to deliver emergency push notifications, similar to messages sent via email, social media and news outlets, but JC Now delivers these messages much more efficiently and are targeted to a specific audience.

“It’s very rewarding to have JC Now be recognized by a distinguished body like the ARC,” said Nick O’Day, GIS manager. “We hope the award will motivate the public into downloading and using the app.”

The award was presented at the ARC’s board meeting March 25. A beta version of “JC Now” won first place at the 2014 Esri International User Conference in San Diego.

JC Now was the City’s first app to launch, followed by JC Fix It and the Johns Creek Police Department app, JCPD4ME. All apps are available through iPhone or Android app stores.

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Photo: Nick O’Day, GIS Manager, receives the ARC’s CREATE Award for the city of Johns Creek’s mobile phone app, JC Now. He is pictured with the ARC’s Katrina DeBerry. Credit: city of Johns Creek