Not sure if you've noticed yet, but that frozen diva Winter Storm Nika is pummeling Boston with more than a few inches of powder.
While it's probably safe to say that most of us would prefer to be holed up indoors with a cup of hot cocoa, many folks in the city have to deal with the stress that strikes every snowday in Boston: snow emergencies and parking bans.
In a beautiful mingling between the local government and tech, Code for Boston has launched a beautifully crafted interactive, Will They Tow Me?, that displays which city roads will be scoped out for illegally parked cars in preparation to clear the streets of powder. To-be-towed roads blaze red if both sides will be towed, yellow if only one side.
If that wasn't enough, it also offers up parking alternatives and lots around the city, depicted with blue pinpoints.
Code for Boston calls itself "a volunteer civic innovation organization created by Boston-area developers, designers, urban planners, and data geeks with an interest in solving civic and social problems through the use of creative technology."
Working together with Cristen Jones, local startup coUrbanize and Bostonography, Code for Boston expanded upon coUrbanize's original map, created in December, to piece together Will They Tow Me? for snowed in yet vehicle-whipping Bostonians citywide.
Hopefully we'll see more in the way of civic-oriented innovations streaming from Code for Boston and City Hall soon.
