In 2015, 511 Alberta added a wind warning system to provide motorists with real time warnings about high winds in the Crowsnest area on Highway 22.

511 Alberta averages 1.2 million unique visitors to its website www.511.alberta.ca every year, generating more than 200 million hits.

The 5-1-1 phone service is accessed approximately 200,000 times each year.

The 511 Alberta Twitter account @511Alberta continues to grow and now boasts more than 59,000 followers.

The addition of real-time transit information through TransLoc allows riders to know the location and arrival time of their bus at any point along the route. This puts riders in control of their schedule by minimizing wait time and avoiding anxiety over missed buses. The information can be accessed in real time from a web browser, SMS or smartphone.

"Airdrie Transit is embracing new technologies that meet the growing needs of our customers," says Chris MacIsaac, Transit Coordinator. "Real-time transit information will provide our customers with an enhanced better public transit experience and has the potential to attract new customers to our services."

In addition to knowing exactly where their bus is, riders can now receive alerts when their bus is arriving and easily plan around schedule changes or unexpected errands.

Check out the Airdrie Transit buses moving in real-time at airdrietransit.transloc.com or download the rider app now for iPhone or Android (transloc.com/app).

Some examples of Alberta municipalities embracing mobile apps include:

• The City of Edmonton Rec Centres app that helps people discover, schedule, and track recreation activities;
• The City of Calgary Pets app that provides information about pet licensing, nearby off-leash areas, and ways to find lost pets;
• The Town of Beaumont's Keep It Green Beaumont app that gives instant access to garbage collection dates, weekly pick-up reminders, and more;
• The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo's PULSE: Wood Buffalo Pingstreet App that provides real time municipal information on garbage and recycling, road closures, and a forum for community members to provide ideas; and,
• The Town of Didsbury's Community Smartphone App with a built-in emergency alert system, live content from the municipal website, and access to local notices, events, maps, a business directory, and contact information.

Mobile apps are just one example of ways municipalities can interact with their community using new technology. For more information about citizen engagement, check out AUMA's Citizen Engagement Toolkit including the new Social Media Resource Guide.

"The increasing immigrant population greatly assists in growing our city and province," said Mayor Michael Fougere. "It is important to the vibrancy of our city to retain the increasing immigrant population over the long term. Recent immigrants have unique needs and require specific information. This website is one mechanism to achieve this goal."

The Province has provided the City with funds for a number of initiatives to assist with settlement and integration, which includes funds for an immigration portal. The Municipal Online Information for Immigrants Grant program was funded through the Immigration Portal Agreement between Canada and Saskatchewan, administered by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC); the City of Regina received $30,000 in total.

"Working together and coordinating our efforts is critical to the successful integration and retention of immigrants in our communities," said Saskatchewan Minister responsible for Immigration, Jobs, Skills and Training Jeremy Harrison. "This portal will provide newcomers with information that will help them integrate into their new home city of Regina."

The website was developed in partnership with stakeholders based on consultations with immigrants, immigrant-serving organizations and partners.

"We are committed to meeting the needs of newcomers by offering programs and services that enable them to achieve in our city," said Gratta Nimbeshano, Manager, Newcomer Welcome Centre. "The website provides a wonderful tool to help us assist new residents."

The website focuses on ease of navigation and provides first-point-of-contact that allows immigrants to find information and sources they need to settle in Regina.

The new site is a hub where City of Winnipeg data is available to the global, online community in machine-readable format for use by such consumers as researchers and software developers. The site will enable the Public Service to be more efficient in responding to requests by providing data in a user-friendly, 'self-serve' environment that is open for business 24/7.

'The launch of the Open Data portal is just the beginning of an open data initiative that will continue to add new data offerings to the catalogue while striving for efficiencies, openness and transparency,' said Mayor Sam Katz.

The initial offering of the open data catalogue features over 60 data sets, maps, charts, and calendars. The catalogue provides searchable access to data including 311 data, building permits, locations of recreation facilities, and census data.

'This new site provides a platform for data upon which software developers can create apps that are useful to all citizens, but won't cost the taxpayer anything to develop,' said Mike Houston, Open Data Portal Project Manager, Corporate Support Services Department.

Open Data is defined as information that is widely available in a format that can be read by a computer, and is made available for anyone to use, transform or republish without restriction and normally only requires that the data source be cited. The practice of providing Open Data must respect all legislation and regulations regarding freedom of information and protection of privacy.

The portal's design and construction began when City Council approved the Open Data Initiative at its March 20, 2013 meeting. As part of a commitment to facilitating sharing across levels of government, Winnipeg's Open Data portal uses the Open Government Licence developed by the Government of Canada. This licence, which is used by five other Canadian municipalities, allows users to 'copy, modify, publish, translate, adapt, distribute or otherwise use the Information in any medium, mode or format for any lawful purpose.'

For a copy of the full report, please see page 86 of the City Council Agenda at www.citypa.ca.

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