EDMONTON – 511 Alberta is proclaiming its first year a success.
511 Alberta was created by the provincial government to distribute online road report information to motorists.
During its first year, the 511 Alberta website received close to 200 million hits from 1.2 million unique visitors.
“It far exceeded expectations to be honest with you. We came into this really wanting to provide a strong and competent service, but we didn’t expect the way it would be embraced and it certainly has been really embraced by the Alberta travelling public,” said Patrick Fitzhenry, 511 Alberta Operations Lead.
User activity was particularly high in March 2013, when the province was hit with a severe snow storm. The numbers reportedly jumped from 17,811 visits on March 20, to 94,351 visits the following day.
Visits to 511 Alberta also grew significantly in June when the province dealt with the worst flooding disaster in Canadian history. The day before the flood – June 19 – the website had 4,224 visitors. The number jumped to 52,880 the day the flood hit. The following day the number jumped again to 81,159 and remained high for the rest of the month.
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Social media – particularly Twitter – has played an important role in 511 Alberta’s success.
“People are using Twitter all day, every day in their own lives, and they see it as a very valid and easy way of communicating with us,” explained Fitzhenry.
The social media network has also allowed the 511 Alberta to receive information.
“For us, it alerts us to an incident perhaps, or we can certainly follow trends on Twitter with regards to incidents and stuff like that,” said Fitzhenry.
During its one year anniversary celebration, 511 Alberta announced the launch of 511 Mobile.
“A much improved mobile version of the website that allows users to see the road ahead more clearly than ever before,” said Wayne Drysdale, Minister of Transportation.
511 Mobile will allow motorists to view 511 Alberta’s more than 100 highway cameras.
511 Mobile also offers Albertans a GPS function that can provide a user’s location on the 511 Alberta map. The feature allows users to locate themselves in reference to the provincial highway network, should they need to call for help or report an incident or collision.
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