Please note: The algorithm descriptions in English have been automatically translated. Errors may have been introduced in this process. For the original descriptions, go to the Dutch version of the Algorithm Register.
Public space reports
- Publication category
- Impactful algorithms
- Impact assessment
- Field not filled in.
- Status
- In use
General information
Theme
Begin date
End date
Contact information
Link to publication website
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 through Signalen, the open-source reporting system of for and by municipalities. A dangerous traffic situation, housing nuisance or nuisance from people and the hospitality industry can also be reported. Previously, people had to choose which category their report best fitted into (e.g. 'nuisance' or 'street furniture'), so that the report went to the right municipality department.
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'. On this basis, 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
The consideration for deploying this algorithm is to make making a report as easy as possible. By helping reporters choose the right category, fewer to no incorrect categories are linked to a report. This speeds up the handling of the report.
Human intervention
If the algorithm cannot find an appropriate category based on the text written by the notifier, the notification is put on the "other" category by the algorithm. A human assessment then takes place and the notification is still assigned to an appropriate category.
In addition, each notification is still reviewed internally and assessed whether the notification went to the right handler.
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 with sufficient certainty, it ends up in the 'Other' category. These notifications are then reviewed by employees within the BEL Combination. If the algorithm does not work properly, it therefore 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.
Operations
Data
Notifications
The dataset consists of notifications made previously (free text field). Initially, we used 45,000 reports from past years to train the algorithm. The algorithm is continuously trained with all new notifications that are reported.
Someone making a report can leave their phone number and/or e-mail address if they want. We then keep the reporter informed of the progress and we have the option to call him or her back. This information is not kept longer than necessary for this purpose and is therefore not used by the algorithm.
Technical design
Architecture of the model
The text of the notification is divided into individual words. Each word from a notification is analysed to see how unique it is to that notification, compared to the total collection of words ('TF-IDF' or 'term frequency-inverse document frequency'). As a result, a word like 'the' or 'thank you' gets a low weight and a word like 'rubbish' gets a higher weight.
From that combination of words, logistic regression (a machine-learning technique) is then used to determine which category the report belongs to and thus which department within the municipality the report is most likely to fit.