Clean Air Day (CAD) was proclaimed by the Government of Canada to increase public awareness and action on two key environmental priorities, clean air and climate change. This national event, falling on the Wednesday of Canadian Environment Week, builds on the tradition of activities held by environmental, health and transportation groups in May and June all across Canada.
The Commuter Challenge, now a national event of several years running, requires an Internet based computer system to collect registration system and data collection system.
A system was developed by the Ottawa team during the years 1997 through 2001. In 2001 the system was first used for multiple cities across the country. The result is the ``Commuter Challenge GNU Potato Caboose'' or ``CCGPC'' for short. The software is available to anyone under the GNU Public License (GPL). This license provides for the right for anyone to download the software, install it on a system of their choice, and run any event they wish. The license also encourages that improvements to the software be shared back with the community.
While the software is freely available, the systems, bandwidth and support personnel are not.
The support for the software includes three aspects: creation and hosting of per-city web sites, operation of the data gathering software, and troubleshooting and support for the city coordinators.
In addition, feedback from previous years has provided valuable guidance as to which parts of the process is weak and needs improvement. A seperate section for improvements is provided.