Snap311 helps New Yorkers report visible street and public-space issues with almost no manual work. Users take or upload a photo, and Gemini identifies the problem, uses the photo or device location, and checks real NYC 311 data for open duplicate reports nearby. If it’s new, Snap311 creates a clear report for the user to verify and simulates submitting it.
“I learned that Gemini is much more reliable when its image analysis is constrained to a short list of real NYC 311 complaint types instead of being asked to freely label anything it sees. I also learned that surfacing duplicate reports early is a UX win: it avoids making users fill out a full form only to discover the issue was already reported, so I fixed the flow by checking nearby open reports.”