Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2024 1:42 PM
Subject: LGOIMA request - Council apps
I refer to your LGOIMA request of 18 March 2024 regarding Council apps, specifically what apps Council has invested in over the past three years, how does council determine whether an app has been or is successful, if there are any apps from the past three years that are no longer in use.
Please refer to the table below for the information:
App | Description and purpose | Cost in total | Funding notes | Date launched | How many downloads |
Beanstack
| Library app for reading challenges, essentially ability to recommend books and then create a reading log.
| $3,680
| Funded by Friends of Rotorua Library.
Discounted through DIA-Epic subscription.
Pre-formatted app, that we can customise ourselves.
| September 2023
| 99 registered readers
761 badges earned
24,224 minutes of reading logged
|
Library app
| Library app for management of Library accounts and borrowing.
| $0
| No stand alone cost for the app. Included as part of the consortium costs – all different libraries have different branding but same app, provided by National Library SirsiDynix and SOLUS.
| 01/06/2019
| 19,986 FY22
39,397 FY23
11,086 FY24 to date (there was a 3 month outage)
|
Borrow Box
| Library app enables library card holders to download e-books, magazines and e-audio books.
| $3,000
| Funded by RLC
| 01/12/2011
| 26,627 FY22
30,743 FY23
22,545 FY24 to date
|
Eplatform
| Library app enables library card holders to download e-books and e-audio books.
| $0
| Library only pay for content, which is when books are put on the platform for members to download. The admin fees are waived by the provider who also provides our physical books for our collections.
| 01/08/2012
| 25,805 FY22
16,066 FY23
18,517 FY24 to date
|
Libby
| Library app enables library card holders to download e- magazines and periodicals.
| $2,000
| Funded by RLC
| 01/07/2021
| 2,923 FY22
3,151 FY23
4,831 FY24 to date
|
PressReader
| Library app enables library card holders to download e- magazines, periodicals and newspapers.
| $13,891
| Funded by RLC. Discounted through DIA-Epic subscription.
| 01/07/2016
| 30,622 FY22
25,538 FY23
17,314 FY24 to date
|
Spotify
| Subscription for Children’s Programmes music.
| $235
| Funded by RLC.
| 10/08/2022
| Used by the Youth and Early Learning team only
|
(s)elect
| Voter engagement tool created for 2022 local govt election.
| $17,010
| Funded by RLC
| 12/08/2022
| 2,700 unique users FY23*
138,000 page views
Average viewing time 18 minutes
|
Whakarewarewa Forest Loop
| Great Ride trail information app. Provides rider information for the Forest Loop including content creation for cultural stories, interactive VR and animated content, GPS locating and trail features.
| $146,165
| 50% funded by Kanoa/MBIE, 50% funded by RLC
| August 2023
| 407 FY23
70 FY24 to date
|
Prestopark
| Parking app.
| | Council promotes this app, however the app is not provided directly to customers by Council, nor does Council invest in the app. The parking app is provided through Council’s parking contract by a third party supplier.
| | |
*The (s)elect app was created for the local government election of October 2022. It was live from 12 August – 1 October 2022, or seven weeks in total. The app is no longer in use but will be revived for the 2025 Local Elections.
How does council determine whether an app has been or is successful?
Council uses various metrics depending on the type of app and target audience(s). These include the number of downloads, the average length of time users spend engaging with the app and the number of page views. We also capture any media coverage that an app attracts and (where possible) the estimated advertising value of that coverage.
If there are any apps from the past three years that are no longer in use, please explain what and why.
See (s)elect app above.