For residents of Brooklyn Park, finding the nearest polling place or connecting with city services is now just a few clicks away.

The city recently launched a neighborhood app, a program that helps residents quickly find information about their city. The app resulted from the city's initiative to better connect residents with city services.

By typing in their address, residents can look up their recycling pickup days, nearby restaurants and other neighborhood information.

The city's website has dozens of maps for residents, but the application makes the information easy to view on one page, said John Nerge, geographic information system coordinator.

Within the application, residents can search for a business, park and other neighborhoods. It also allows users to look up crime maps and find nearby transit.

Josie Shardlow, the city's neighborhoods relationship specialist, said the app helps residents start "thinking neighborhood."

It's a great way to "have residents connect with resources and assets in their neighborhood," Shardlow said. "The overall goal is to have more pride and identity in the neighborhoods."

Residents have been "clamoring for asset mapping," and the app is how the idea came to fruition, she said.

"It's exciting to co-create something with the community like that," she said.

When researching city-made apps, city staff looked at St. Louis Park, which launched a similar program, as well as larger communities such as Boston, Los Angeles and Fairfax County in Virginia.

Jason Huber, information technology manager at St. Louis Park, launched the city's app in 2008 initially to help residents find their precincts for the general election. Plans are in place to upgrade the program and make it mobile friendly, resembling Brooklyn Park's neighborhood app, Huber said.

Since the April 2 launch, the team has tracked about 500 people who have viewed the app and run about 450 reports.

The app has some kinks, and suggestions for improvement are welcome, Shardlow said. Residents can view the schools nearest to their homes, but it doesn't show if those schools are in their attendance zone. It does, however, provide a link to the school district.

"We hope to improve it over time," Shardlow said.

Users can visit the website at www.brooklynpark.org/neighborhoods.

Karen Zamora • 612-673-4647

Twitter: @KarenAnelZamora