iTinerant iSores: New App Helps New Yorkers Dodge "Homeless Hotspots"

It's no secret that our technology has surpassed our humanity.  Now, a new aspect of technology will help you literally pass right on by the elements of humanity that you'd rather not see...

Not exactly the best kind of Victoria's Secret model.
(Image courtesy nypost.com.)

As the problem of homeless transients escalates in New York City, one developer has created away to dodge their frequent and sometimes violent harangues for change.  According to the New York Post, data engineer David Fox has invented the Map The Homeless app to make citizens aware of where the less-fortunate may try to accost them.

Fox invented the app after growing fed up with seeing aggressive panhandlers and wayward urination creep all over the city.  He created the "really simple" solution in app form, and made it compatible for both Android and iOS devices.

Users, including the NYPD, can add photos of the homeless to an in-app map so that the transients can be avoided, or in some cases, aided.  “I want to help [city officials] be able to find these people and keep them off the streets,” Fox said.

Panhandling and pee need not be worries of your commute any longer.
(Image courtesy observer.com.)

Hopefully the accrued data will help users navigate around "homeless hot spots" that could pose a danger.  Even if the bums aren't dangerous, their categorization can help give them a modicum of visibility, which could contribute to their overall welfare.  

“Just because they are causing no harm it doesn’t mean we should just leave them alone and pretend they don’t exist,” Fox told The New York Observer. “A lot of the people who make the “leave them alone” argument are the first who get very, very upset when a homeless person is found in serious condition or even dead because they were left to sleep outside on a freezing winter day while everyone who passed by looked the other way.”

Map The Homeless is available for free download.   

Unfortunately, there is not currently a way to avoid the homeless on subway cars,
though the smell generally serves as a good warning.
(Image courtesy theshortshow.com.)