“As Geocentric we are very proud to launch our new mobile phone reporting application,” said Gene Lohrentz of the urban management company recently. “This is another way in which we are enabling our CID business and property owners to interact with their City Improvement District Management. 

“We want our CID contributors to become part of our family by interacting with us about issues they might encounter.  The mobile application makes that possible on the devices most people have with them every day.” 

The Geocentric app allows users to easily report issues in the City Improvement Districts managed by Geocentric Urban Management based in South Africa.  Currently the areas covered by this Application include Beaconvale Industrial Area, Elsies River Industrial, Glosderry, Maitland, Salt River, Somerset West CBD, Stikland Industrial, Strand CBD and the Tygervalley CBD.  

With this application users can report urban defects, crime incidents, public safety issues and general comments.  “We will acknowledge your report and provide you with feedback throughout the process.  We will also send you ‘Alerts’ of problems in your CID area, such as water leaks or power outages and we can even send crime alerts and safety tips to your mobile phone. 

The Geocentric Reporting Application is Free of Charge 

Simply install it and register as a user when using it for the first time.  If you need any help, please contact support@geocentric.co.za 

Let’s get started! 

• Simply download and install the App from the Google Play or Apple App Store  
• Register as a user, using the app when you open it for the first time 

• We will send you a confirmation email and you will have to activate your app by clicking on the activation link in the email – this is to ensure we are dealing with people and not spammers. 
• Go to your email and verify your email address 
• Log in and you are ready to go! 

The Geocentric Urban Management Trolley Project was initiated in 2017. 

The aim of the project is to provide urban cleaning and maintenance teams with a platform to improve their daily tasks, assist with moving of equipment and tools and enable recycling while performing their tasks. 

A few design considerations were introduced into the design of the trolley including 

• The ability to move heavy loads of litter or recycling from one point to another without effort or potential injury 

• Create high visibility for the cleaning and maintenance teams 
• Have quick and easy access to tools and equipment 
• The ability, even when fully loaded, to easy ascend and descend kerbs and sidewalks 
• Be able to separate waste as they work to support the recycling initiative 

To achieve some of these design principles, Geocentric looked at simple solutions from other designs, for example, the stair-climbing suitcases used by so many travellers.  By scaling up the design for the urban management trolleys, we could produce a sidewalk and pavement climbing trolley where the urban management worker needs minimum effort to get onto and off pavements to perform their duties.  

(See photos of step 1, 2 and 3 illustrating this concept.) 

The trolleys were also designed to be pushed from any side with key tools located in the middle so that it is in fact easy to use it for a two-man team operation.  On each side of the trolley a plastic tool box allows storage for small tools. 

Recyclables like tin cans, glass and plastic bottles are collected by the urban management workers throughout the day as they clean the streets and public spaces and at the end of each day they separate the items into baskets whereafter Geocentric recycles the items. 

This is another way in which we make CID operations more sustainable and environmentally friendly as we prevent a vast amount of waste from simply going to landfills. 

Geocentric have rolled out these trollies in the Elsies River and Beaconvale City Improvement Districts and plan to roll them out to all the other CIDs under Geocentric management through the course of 2018. 

Thanks to the commitment of all who are involved in the Beaconvale Improvement District drive, strides of progress are being made in various ways. 

The accompanying images tell the story of how problems like illegal dumping and the confiscation of stolen trolleys and wheelie-bins are successfully addressed by the teams. 

The Public Safety issues that are addressed during the day-to-day activities, include problems related to the following:  

• Illegal Dumping 
• Engaging with the public (public safety officers engage with all people in the public space to ensure that everyone is aware of the BVID’s presence and activities. This is done in conjunction with and in support of the law enforcement officer seconded to the Stikland CID, who oversees such activities. If something suspicious is found, the Law Enforcement Officer and/or SAPS act accordingly. 
• Bin scratching  
• CCTV visuals followed up if necessary  
• Trolley and wheelie-bin confiscation 

The Cleaning issues include: 

• Litter picking 
• De-weeding 
• Sweeping streets 

On the Urban management side, the BVID Management continues to log all urban and infrastructure defects as C3* notifications with the City of Cape Town for correction. (*This is a system introduced by the City of Cape Town by which the public can report urban defects / problems / law enforcement issues – to them via various platforms, such as sms (31373 – all issues except electrical and 31220 for electrical issues), call centre (086 103 089) and e-mail. (https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/ServiceRequests/Pages/default.aspx)