Calgary.ca - your online community for City services for 25 years
City of Calgary website celebrates Silver Anniversary on December 19
Calgary.ca turns 25 this month and a lot has changed in the past quarter century with how citizens interact with their government online.
It’s hard to imagine a time when we couldn’t summon Siri to send a text from a smartphone or activate Alexa to turn up the thermostat, or get Google to direct us through a traffic jam. Believe it or not there was a time we survived when there wasn’t an app for that.
“So much has changed in 2020 and that includes how we deliver essential services to Calgarians,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has meant a lot of innovation and advancement to our online service delivery in a short amount of time. Council commitments to supporting Open Data earlier this year and investments to replace the platform that serves as the backbone to the site in 2018 are just a couple of the reasons Calgary.ca has evolved to so much more than reporting a pot hole or requesting a Blue Cart for your new home,” he added.
“Just as City Hall is your living room, Calgary.ca is your online community. You can recognize your neighbours for being a Snow Angel, connect with a career counselor at the Youth Employment Centre, chat in real time with someone from our Business & Planning Services counter or take a free course on resiliency for family members of first responders.”
In 1995 a mere three per cent of North Americans had logged on to the World Wide Web. Fast forward to present day where Calgary.ca sees an average of 22 million visits annually. That’s 60 thousand each day.
Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year, Calgary.ca will continue to provide services that connect Calgarians and Make Life Better Every day for the next 100 years.
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Calgary.ca - Then vs. now
From Rollerblading in the ‘90s to e-Scooters in 2020 what’s changed and what’s stayed the same since our website was launched in 25 years ago?
Top 5 Topics on Calgary.ca in 1995
- Calgary Zoo
- Science Centre
- Calgary Transit rates and schedules
- Pathway information
- Calgary Police, Fire & Emergency Medical Services
Top 5 Topics on Calgary.ca in 2020
- Recreation
- Careers
- Waste & Recycling Services
- Parks
- Calgary Police
Calgary still is divided by 14 wards – but now elected officials are represented by councillors not aldermen.
Calgary.ca by the numbers
Visits
- If the average number of weekly visitors to Calgary.ca were to line up at City Hall, the line would stretch from downtown Calgary to the city of Edmonton.
- Calgary.ca visitors surpass the population of our city every 71 days.
- Every day there are more visitors to Calgary.ca than seats in the Saddledome and McMahon Stadium combined.
Web pages
- If Calgary.ca web page views were pages in a book, every month we would have to print a book of over 2.8 million pages – that’s 338 metres thick.
- If you were to take a step for every page view Calgary.ca receives daily, you would have to walk up and down the stairs of the Calgary Tower 231 times.
Metrics
- At any given moment during the day there are at least 250 visitors on Calgary.ca.
- Every week on Calgary.ca over one million pages of information are viewed.
- We love our pets! Animal Services received over a million page views in 2020.
Silly Searches
- “Is it possible to recover a ring that fell into a toilet?”
- “What state is Calgary in?”
- “Can I get a DUI on a bike?”
- “What’s the difference between a ground squirrel and a gopher?”
- Q. How can we improve? A. “Free popcorn”
Industry Awards
- 2010 Interactive Media Awards
- Outstanding Achievement – Government (Calgary Infrastructure Projects Website)
- Best in Class – Government (Calgary.ca/TaxTalk)
- Best in Class – Government (Online Recreation Guide)
- 2012 Excellence in the Public Sector (Government of Canada)
- Service Delivery Award recipient (Calgary.ca website redesign)
- 2012 Digital Alberta Awards
- Winner B2C Innovation (Calgary.ca website redesign)
- 2012 W3 Awards
- Best in show (City of Calgary)
- 2012 Society for New Communications Research Awards
- Award of Excellence – External Communications (Calgary.ca website redesign)
- 2012 Interactive Media Awards
- Best in Class – Government (Calgary.ca website)
- Outstanding Achievement – Government (Calgary Mayor Website)
- Outstanding Achievement – Communications (Road conditions map)
- 2014 PR Daily’s Digital Awards
- Honorable Mention (Flood Info Microsite)
- 2015 Society for New Communications Research Awards
- Award of Excellence (Mayor’s Website mobile experience)
- Commendation of merit (Digital program performance metrics)
This day in history
It’s hard to remember what was going on last week. Here’s a reminder of what was happening in Calgary and around the world on December 19, 1995.
Al Duerr was serving his 3rd term as Calgary Mayor, while former Calgary Mayor, Ralph Klein, was Premier of Alberta. Jean Chrétien was Canada’s Prime Minister and Democrat Bill Clinton was President of the United States.
The Calgary Flames’ 16th NHL season had a disastrous start under new head coach Pierre Page. After a decade on the team and unable to agree on a contract renewal, Joe Nieuwendyk was traded to the Dallas Stars for Corey Millen, and then WHL star Jarome Iginla on December 19.
Calgary’s population was 749,073 and the most popular baby names were Jessica and Michael.
Queen Elizabeth II commanded Prince Charles and Princess Diana to officially end their 14-year marriage and file for divorce.
NBC had the top three primetime TV series:
- ER
- Seinfeld
- Friends
Disney’s animated Toy Story was knocked out of top spot at the box office by Jumanji starring the late Robin Williams, newcomer Kirsten Dunst, In Living Color comedian David Alan Grier and Bonnie Hunt .
The number-one hit song in the U.S. (Billboard Hot 100) was One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men and you probably had both albums on compact disc.
Ty Beanie Babies topped every kids’ Christmas wish list as the most popular toy of 1995.