In October, we examined Foursquare’s new “for Good” program which rewards developers who build altruistic and public-serving location-based applications using its Pilgrim SDK and Places API. At the time, we mentioned that Foursquare was taking applications and would soon choose a winner. That day has arrived.
After receiving about 40 submissions from various non-profit organizations, the top selection went to the Red Dot Foundation’s SafeCity initiative. In short, it’s a platform that anonymously crowdsources and aggregates sexual harassment and abuse reports, and geotags them for public-facing heat maps.
The goal is for better awareness and avoidance of those hot zones. On a broader level, this can engender public awareness which leads to pressure and lobbying for geo-specific law enforcement, or municipal action. The latter can mean investment in everything lighting to neighborhood development.
According to Foursquare, one of the deciding factors for judges wasn’t just a mission that resonates, but proven effectiveness. SafeCity has demonstrated some of the above endpoints in creating tangible change and protecting citizens. It’s also made headway in working with local governments in the above ways.
“This is yet another example of how location technology can be used to not only make the world a better and safer place, but even save lives,” Foursquare Communications Manager and FSG lead Jesse Lane told Localogy. “Foursquare is incredibly excited and proud to work with the Red Dot Foundation’s SafeCity initiative and to help support them in their mission of making cities safer from sexual violence.”
NPO Network Effect
As for what happens next, Foursquare will work with SafeCity to integrate the Places API. This will make its app more geo-precice in tagging problem areas. Beyond that immediate benefit, a long-term result could be a feedback loop of effectiveness and resulting community participation (NPOs can have network effects too).
Phase 2 will be to integrate Foursquare’s Pilgrim SDK. That will elevate SafeCity’s ability to proactively send app users notifications when they’re approaching problem areas. This proactive approach will be important to bring alerts outside of the app’s four walls, and to the home screen where they belong.
In addition to free access to Foursquare’s developer tools, SafeCity’s winnings include engineering support and resources, as well as a $10,000 donation from Foursquare. Lastly, we’ll leave you with quotes from the judges that characterize their rationale for choosing SafeCity as the program’s winner.
“Part of the initial vision when we launched Foursquare was to make cities easier to use. When we opened up our API and SDK to the developer community, it was our hope that they would take our tech and use it to build on top of that vision. The Red Dot Foundation’s SafeCity app for making cities safer for women is exactly what we hoped people would use our location tech to build, and I am honored to work with them to help make this vision a reality.” – Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Foursquare
“Red Dot Foundation’s Safecity is a compelling use of location technology to help combat sexual harassment and abuse in public spaces. With Foursquare’s support, I’m excited to see the platform shed much needed visibility on this issue while ensuring our cities become safer for women and girls.” – Jamie Sgarro, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Asylum Connect (2019 winner of the Foursquare for Good competition)
“Red Dot Foundation’s use of location data for Safecity is an empowering tool for women and victims of sexual harassment and abuse to reclaim safe spaces. The service has the potential to scale and could be used by law enforcement to aid in fighting impunity for perpetrators. The reframing of the issue to focus on data is an actionable step that could help victims come forward, reduce victim-blaming and make streets safer for marginalized groups.” – Monica Melton, Assistant Editor, Forbes Innovation
“The Red Dot Foundation is taking a smart approach to reducing sexual violence in public spaces with the Safecity project. Proactive, anonymous, and place based, when deployed, the Safecity project will empower women to break the silence on sexual violence while still keeping their identities secure.” – Nicole Dunn, Program and Marketing Manager, Fast Forward
“For all people, but women and girls in particular, awareness of one’s surroundings is a critical component of personal safety – but this can be extremely challenging, particularly in new environments. Red Dot’s pioneering mission to deploy tech, data and a community-based approach against making cities safer and easier to navigate for women is well-aligned with Foursquare’s long-time vision about the potential for location technology to improve the world. It’s an honor to contribute our platform to this effort.” – Lauren Smith, VP Strategy, Foursquare
