Still looking for a good crowed source issue tracker for municipal services... Ushahidi is quite nice, but difficult to set up and it seems the Android app isn't open-source (anymore?).

Something I still need to further investigate, but which seems like a easier solutions might be:
markaspot.de/
or
fixmystreet.org/

Which is used by some German/UK municipalities and is based on the Drupal platform and thus should be easy to set up.

It also supports some general standard for reporting municipal issues that Mughal was referring to earlier, see: www.open311.org/

(The reason I am looking into this is to get an easy to use WASH issue tracker for a refugee camp, but due to limited internet connectivity here it might not be feasible to implement a software without an offline capable mobile app).

Somehow I failed connecting the dots

But something like this can actually be done very well with the Ushahidi crowed-sourcing platform. It has actually quite a bit more functionality, but this is more or less the core of it.

Check it out here:
www.ushahidi.com

They offer a free plan for simple mapping and users can submit issues through the web-interface, email & a nice mobile app. Edit: Twitter, RSS or even SMS (requires a bit more setup) is available for non-free plans. Since it is open-source you can also install the system on your own server, but that requires a bit more expertise of course.

You can see as an actual example this crowed-source map about power line issues in southern India:
ecc.ushahidi.io/views/map

Have a look at the attached presentation, and you will no longer be old-fashioned;)

I haven't come across any of those mentioned tools myself yet. I suppose looking on Google might give some hints and links (I found nothing on those 3 names on Wikipedia).
It would be interesting to know if any of them will eventually emerge as the market leader for reporting broken "stuff", illegal dumping of rubbish etc. to municipalities.

Here where I live I guess we are old fashioned and I would either give our local council a call or send them an e-mail. Perhaps it would be more efficient to switch to an App, but Germany might be a bit behind with such IT solutions. Luckily there is probably not as much to report here as there would be in a city with a disfunctional sanitation system and low performing local government authority.

i really like this tool, It can work well in Lesotho because we are still too far in protecting the Environment; access to clean water and sanitation services and improper solid waste are our main issues

Details like how they operate; are they beneficial; public perceptions for this mechanisms; how effective they are in solving municipal problems (overflowing manholes, sewers' clogging, and disposal of sludge (this is common nuisance here) ; and possibly, a comparative analyses of the various systems.

F H Mughal

Could you rephrase you question? What kind of details do you want?

Without having looked into the details, these kind of software solutions are likely fairly standard issue trackers but with a nice easy to use mobile app that allows uploading geo-referenced pictures as attachments to the issues.

Web-based planning mechanisms that involve residents in local government’s decision-making process is becoming common. Citizens are becoming engaged in identifying the city’s most pressing problems and proposing solutions. These are called tech tools.

For example, thousands of residents are using Qlue, a smartphone app that lets users snap a picture of uncollected garbage or a broken street lamp, and report it to local authorities. Like “311” services in the United States or Seoul’s “smart complaint” app, Qlue gives citizens an immediate way to tell authorities what needs fixing.

I'm looking for details on Qlue, 311 service, and Smart Complaint. Can anyone help, please?

Thank you,

F H Mughal