This is so cool and geeky. I would download a garbage can app to help the city monitor garbage cans. Why? As Brett Goldstein notes, garbage cans go, and 7 days later, rats start to mass…read more.

Garbage can connectivity has larger implications than just, well, garbage. Brett Goldstein, the former Chief Data and Information Officer for the City of Chicago and a current lecturer at the University of Chicago, says city officials found clear patterns between damaged or missing garbage cans and rat problems. “We found areas that showed an abnormal increase in missing or broken receptacles started getting rat outbreaks around seven days later,” Goldstein said. “That’s very valuable information. If you have sensors on enough garbage cans, you could get a temporal leading edge, allowing a response before there’s a problem. In urban planning, you want to emphasize prevention, not reaction.” (via The emergence of the connected city – O’Reilly Radar)