Proposal

The key to a successful commuter challenge is in the ability to collect data. Over several years, volunteer contributions to Ottawa Commuter Challenge event run annually by Auto-Free Ottawa have resulted in a sophisted web based data collection system.

In its original form, it was targetted at one city only. Redesigns in 1999 and 2000 have resulted in the software being ready to support multiple cities on a single system, but this facility has never been tested.

The purpose of this project is to debug,test and deploy a database system and PHP3+HTML web interface for use by Canadian communities participating in Commuter Challenge 2001.

The project is divided into five major phases:

Phase one

setup a system capable of handling the anticipated load

Phase two

transform all Ottawa-specific pieces into more generic templates that can be filled in easily during phase four

Phase three

test system with a second city (Vancouver - BEST) enabled, and with multiple respondants picked from several cooperative audiences (e.g. Environment Canada, BC Ministry, BEST, etc. employees). Bring up national portal.

Phase four

accept applications from Canadian communities wishing to use the system, and configure the appropriate templates for their use.

Phase five

run the event.