BuitenBeter (public space reports)

Municipality of Rijswijk

With the BuitenBeter app, residents can easily report problems in public spaces (such as broken street lights, loose paving stones, litter, fallen trees, etc.). The algorithm within BuitenBeter automatically categorises and classifies the report and forwards it to the appropriate handling department. This speeds up and improves handling by the municipality.

Last change on 16th of January 2026, at 12:02 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Other algorithms
• Impact assessment: Field not filled in.
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Space and Infrastructure

Begin date

2024-07

Contact information

[e-mail]

Responsible use

Goal and impact

If something needs to be fixed or cleaned up on the street or in a park, it can be reported to the municipality via the website or the BuitenBeter App. A dangerous traffic situation, housing nuisance or nuisance from people and catering establishments can also be reported. Previously, people had to choose which category their report best fitted with (e.g. 'nuisance' or 'street furniture'), so that the report went to the right department in the municipality.

But the municipality is a complex organisation and the list of categories is long. As a result, people did not always choose the right category. This sometimes caused delays in processing notifications. Therefore, we now use an algorithm that recognises words, e.g. 'rubbish' and 'pavement'. Based on this, it determines which category the report best fits and which department should handle it. So the caller no longer needs to choose a category, and the call is handled faster because it goes to the right department.

Considerations

• Privacy: reports may include location information and (optionally) contact details. The municipality ensures that personal data is only used as necessary - e.g. for feedback - and in compliance with privacy rules.
• Transparency and ease of use: users can report anonymously.
• Accessibility: the app is easily accessible and available to many residents via iOS and Android.

Human intervention

The notification is registered by the algorithm and forwarded automatically, but the actual assessment and handling is always done by municipal employees.

Risk management

There are few risks in this algorithm. It places a notification in the right category and gets it to the attention of the right department faster. If the algorithm cannot place a notification in a category, it ends up in the 'Other' category. Staff from the Public Space Department review those notifications and manually put them in the right category. So if the algorithm is not working properly, it takes a little longer for the report to reach the right department. The reporter can add personal data if he or she wants to be kept informed. This data is stored securely and not used by the algorithm.

Legal basis

• Processing personal data: General Data Protection Regulation (AVG)
• Organisation of municipal services: Municipal Act
• Public space management tasks according to local ordinances

Links to legal bases

Municipal Act: https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005530/

Operations

Data

Description category identification in BuitenBeter

1. Not high risk according to EU AI regulation

Category identification is a supporting functionality that helps reporters categorise reports correctly. It does not involve a decision-making process with legal or far-reaching consequences for citizens, as, for example, AI use in fraud detection or credit assessment. With this, the system does not fall under the 'high risk' category as defined in the EU AI regulation.

2. No automated decision-making

Category identification in BuitenBeter only provides a suggestion for a category and does not replace human assessment. The notifier can modify the suggestion and the municipality retains full control over the final processing of the report. No automated decision-making takes place without human intervention.

3. Transparency and explainability

The operation of category identification is transparent and easy to explain: the model bases its suggestions on characteristics from previous reports and available categories. It does not use complex, non-explainable algorithms or self-learning models that may be opaque to users.

4. No processing of special personal data

Category identification uses only text from the notification and public categories to make a suggestion. No sensitive or special personal data are processed.

5. Similar to regular search and filter functions

The functionality is similar to smart search engines or auto-completion systems used in many government and commercial applications. Such systems generally have no significant social or legal impact.

We cannot disclose this dataset in this registry. Because the data comes from a free text field, it may contain personal data, although it is not explicitly requested.

Someone making a report can leave his or her phone number and/or e-mail address if he or she wishes. We will then keep the reporter informed of progress. This information is not kept longer than necessary for this purpose and is therefore not used by the algorithm.

External provider

Progresity B.V.