Technology is being embraced by Roselle Park. The municipality is currently upgrading its website and researching social media policies to better communicate with residents but for months the Department of Public Works (DPW) has been utilizing such automation to better benefit residents as well as their own work product. GPS tracking allows residents to see when and where their streets were swept or, during snowfall, when their streets were cleaned.
In years past, especially during the summer, there have been complaints from here and there about the street sweeper. More aptly put, there were complaints about the lack of the street sweeper passing by a certain street. A call would be made to the DPW and the Superintendent would review a paper log and report back whether a certain road in Roselle Park had been done and when. If the logs showed that a certain street was done, there would be some misgivings with the belief that it was marked down incorrectly or it was simply made up.
Starting this summer, the DPW street sweeper, along with other vehicles, were equipped with GPS units. The units track the coordinates whenever the sweeper was in motion or even turned on. Roselle Park News requested the data from the DPW and transferred it into graphical interactive maps. These maps will be provided to readers on a regular basis as well as when snow clearing is done throughout the borough.
These maps provide information as to the date and time – as well as direction and speed – the sweeper passed for the months of July through October. It should be noted that the address listed with a particular latitude and longitude are estimates based on the mapping system used but the location marker is the most accurate.
A ‘how-to’ video has been created to help users navigate through what, at first, seems to be nothing but a swarm of markers throughout town. It is available in this article below the four (4) street sweeper maps.