New smartphone app maps ASBOs onto neighborhoods

The recent "data.gov.uk" initiative has spawned a number of new websites and services, some quite innovative: The ASBOrometer app for smartphones can show geospecific data of several kinds to its users, offering what a general measure of how "dodgy" an area is, as the Daily Mail puts it.

The Mail writes that "the app also displays how many parenting orders have been issued, along with how many crack houses have been closed in a given area. Users can compare their area with surrounding regions on a leaderboard". The Daily Telegraph reports that "it as been dubbed 'the estate agent's worst nightmare', as it can tip off would-be house buyers about troublesome neighbourhoods".

The app is currently available - free of charge - for download via Apple's App Store service or for users of devices powered by Google's Android OS.

Jeff Gilfelt, the creator of ASBOrometer, told the Telegraph that "although its name is fun, it has a serious message". The application uses postcodes and freely available government statistics to compile its results, and updates itself frequently with new data.