King County residents concerned about noxious weeds have a new gardening tool to turn to when it comes to eliminating invasive species — a mobile app that makes it easier to identify and report the precise location of such plants.
With technical assistance from Microsoft and Slalom Consulting, the new app called King County Connect eliminates a complicated reporting process in which the public was previously required to take a photo of a suspected noxious weed, match it through their own image search, submit a report on the King County website and estimate the location of where the photo was taken.
The free app streamlines the process by allowing residents to take a photo in the app, which will automatically geolocate the weed. The plant can then be matched to the county’s list of noxious plants and a report can be submitted directly from a mobile device, either anonymously or with user contact information.
Editor's note: Above video on noxious hogweed originally aired in 2018