Boston could soon deploy a new mobile app to make its roads smoother and safer for traffic. The app, called Street Bump, will spot potholes on the road and transmit their location to the Department of Public Works through an accelerometer and the Global Positioning System receiver embedded in it.

The app, in development, would be sensitive enough to identify cracks and divots, alerting the city to pavement problems before they become car-crunching craters, according to a report in Boston Globe.

The device works like this: An iPhone or an Android phone, or any other smartphone for that matter, enabled with the Street Bump app placed on the dashboard or the cup holder of a moving car will sense potholes real time and send the data to the city authorities.

While people had to send an email or make a call to the City Hall when they spot potholes on the road, this new app will supposedly make the process of repairing roads quicker.

The accelerometer, which determines the direction and acceleration of a phone’s movement, can be harnessed to identify when a phone resting on a dashboard or in a cupholder in a moving car has hit a bump; the GPS receiver can determine by satellite just where that bump is located, according to the report.

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