City of Vancouver Takes Steps to Provide More Data to the Public, Including When Trash Day Is

The City of Vancouver has enhanced the data available through its Open Data website to allow the public to access and download much more data than before—everything from garbage collection schedules to the location of off-leash dog areas, water mains and traffic webcams.

The City has launched the next version of the Open Data Catalogue providing approximately 100 datasets to the public. The data is available in the three major GIS formats standard for map software, including KML. Most of the data can be displayed in Google Maps or Bing Map with a single mouse click.

Application developers and programmers can use the data to create additional applications for the public. One application already in place, vantrash.ca, allows people to set up an email reminder to tell them when to put out their garbage for pick up. The IT community is actively working on other applications, some of which provide data to mobile devices.

The data will also benefit students and faculty conducting research, which may lead to increased knowledge about Vancouver.

Open data is the next step in Vancouver’s continued effort to become more open, accessible and transparent. It is part of the City’s commitment to enhance citizen engagement, foster digital innovation and improve service delivery.

The catalogue is available at data.vancouver.ca.

Vantrash.ca will search your location and let you know when to take out your trash.