The solution was developed by the locally-based tech company, Qlue, and the project was carried out in cooperation with various organizations, private entities, and multiple municipal officials to ensure synergy between stakeholders and a sustainable project, post-implementation.

The project began in the midst of an open data initiative by Jakarta, for which Qlue was contracted as the GIS mapping platform provider. Qlue’s role expanded after they proposed additional tools to augment data collection, which had been insufficient in the past. Their proposed addition to the program included crowdsourcing reports from citizens that officials from Jakarta could verify and act upon in real-time. Citizens report issues via mobile apps available for both iOS and Android, and city officials monitor and address these reports through a Command Center which utilizes a GIS Mapping Dashboard. Qlue relies heavily on data integration as a key component and uses the React Native framework consequently. The platform supports many data types, including but not limited to JSON, GeoJSON, SHP/DWG, XML/KML.

Jakarta funded the project for a total of $300,000 to develop and license the map-based platform. The initial pilot of the program operated from 2014-2017 and was granted a three-year extension based upon its success and will run until 2020. Not included in this budget however, is the additional staff salaries for the newly-created response unit which handles citizen submissions via the platform.

Certain legislative measures needed to be taken in order for the project to be fully implemented, and while these were done by gubernatorial decree, current efforts are underway to pass national laws which would make such measures possible throughout Indonesia. They include the modification of responsibilities of the local community and district-level leaders, new rules and instructions on public reporting and complaint handling, and the creation of dedicated task forces such as the Jakarta Smart City organization and PPSU (field workers that serve as a rapid response complaint handlers).

Qlue trains Jakarta staff and transfers technological capabilities to them, but as some of the technology requires very specialized expertise, Jakarta Smart City hired 5 civil officials and 40 other professionals from the private sector. The city also still enjoys support from Qlue which has a team of 70 that handles city clients. Some examples of relevant skills include mobile app development, GIS mapping, and data engineering.