Latest news with #CityOfCalgary
CBC
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- CBC
After deadly year on roads, Calgary explores using drones and VR for traffic safety
After reporting an 11-year high for collision fatalities last year, Calgary is turning to new technology in an attempt to make its roads safer. Calgary is the first Canadian city to test drones and virtual reality to monitor traffic in real time. The city has purchased around seven drones to monitor traffic, and allow city staff to understand how crowd patterns are forming and whether officers are needed to control traffic. Operators at the city's traffic management centre are also piloting a virtual reality headset to keep an eye on congestion at intersections, and adjust traffic signals in real time. It's currently being tested at Macleod Trail and 42nd Avenue S.W. These new tools come after 29 people died in collisions in 2024, including 13 pedestrians. "I'm really hopeful and optimistic that we can alleviate some of the pressure on traffic, and maybe calm drivers down to some degree so that we're not experiencing the same amount of collisions that we have seen in the past — in particular the collisions between vehicles and pedestrians where lives were lost," said Mayor Jyoti Gondek. Aside from safety, Gondek said the city's goal is to use these tools to make road travel faster and more predictable. The VR headset was tested during the recent G7 leaders' summit in Kananaskis, Alta., when thousands of people from across the world were travelling through Calgary. Gondek said it was a success. "We had a lot of motorcades passing through and so we had to accommodate those, but very quickly the teams at the traffic management centre were able to reset the signals to allow for full flow of traffic again," she said. The city plans to expand the VR program to up to 15 more locations next year, said Ravi Seera, Calgary's acting director of mobility. Seera said it cost the city roughly $10,000 to bring the VR headsets online, adding that each drone costs "less than $1,000." But he said these tools should save the city money in the long run. "The whole intention behind the pilot is we want to make sure there is value behind the investment. So we are looking at low-cost, high-value investments," said Seera. Faster Google Maps updates Calgary has also landed a partnership with Google to make it the first city in the world to upload images directly to Google Street View. Gondek said that means Calgarians will get faster updates and more accurate information on Google Maps. City staff is also exploring partnerships with similar platforms like Apple Maps. "On average, it takes Google about two to three years to update their maps. We're enabling them to do it within about six months," said Gondek. Similar to Toronto, the City of Calgary is also partnering with Waze, a popular navigation app. "Calgary has created a two-way data connection with Waze, which gives drivers and the city access to live traffic updates on closures and detours, and it helps drivers to report any incidents and delays that they may be witnessing in real time," said Gondek. In addition, the city is using artificial intelligence for traffic counting. City staff are also looking into ways AI can help to prevent potholes or cracks in roads. "What we expect is in a few years, that would replace our manual data collection and inspection of our roadways. It will give us information about which roads need to be paved," said Seera. Gondek said the city has robust safety protocols in place to ensure all data is protected.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Calgary archeology program sheds light on province's pre-contact history
With a history spanning well over 10,000 years, Alberta is a prime location for those looking to uncover ancient ways of living. A Calgary archeology program is shedding some more light on that history while giving aspiring archeologists hands-on experience in the field. Running from May 15 to June 4, the program is a partnership between the university and the City of Calgary. Last year's field school took place in Nose Hill Park, while this year brought students to Edworthy Park in southwest Calgary. It's a great opportunity to both train students and educate the public about the long-term history of Calgary and Alberta, said Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer, assistant professor with the University of Calgary anthropology and archeology department. "This site actually has been known since the '70s. It's just never been excavated," she said of the Edworthy Park dig. "A big part of why we're doing it in park spaces is so we get the random dog walkers coming by, and we can talk to them about the history that's here," said Amundsen-Meyer. The findings have yet to be radiocarbon dated for a precise age, but according to Amundsen-Meyer, it's an Indigenous pre-contact site. "Right now we don't know how old this site is, but we do know that within the city of Calgary, there are sites that stretch back from the contact. Fort Calgary, all the way back eight, even nine thousand years … if we look at the province as a whole, we're talking 13,000 years or more." Many people going for walks in Edworthy Park might not realize the archeological significance of sites like this, or other sites across the province, which makes outreach a central part of the program. "That's older than Stonehenge, older than the pyramids, right? So there is a time depth here that I think is really important to understand," said Amundsen-Meyer. Findings at the site include bifaces (used as knives), choppers (designed to disarticulate carcasses), scrapers (meant to remove meat from hides) and other stone tools. They're fascinating, but nothing out of the ordinary for a site like this, she said. "Most of what we're finding is what we call lithics. And lithics are basically both stone tools and the garbage from making stone tools," she said. By giving students hand-on experience, they're joining the work force with a significant head start. "There's actually a labour market shortage in archeology and cultural resource management right now," said Amundsen-Meyer. "So we're feeding a lot of students straight into industry and straight into jobs. If we can train them better here, they're better prepared." Working with Indigenous partners is a central aspect of the program, with every dig being preceded by a ceremony and guidance from elders representing multiple First Nations communities playing a key role in shaping participants' understanding of Indigenous culture. "All of those pieces are showing how those descendant communities still have connections to this land, to this place and to sites like this," said Amundsen-Meyer. "I've had elders tell me more than once: you have to have truth before reconciliation," she said. "Part of that is definitely about residential schools, but I think part of it is also about educating people about the long term history of this place." Joining the University of Calgary archeology students at the Edworthy Park site are three Indigenous youth hired to work alongside the team and train as archeologists. "In my opinion, we shouldn't be doing archeology without connecting to those descendant communities," said Amundsen-Meyer. One of those young archeologists, Taren Crowchief of the Siksika Nation, is now in his fourth year with the program. "It helped me see my history and the past, and just everything about Alberta a lot differently ever since I started doing this," he said. His work with the program has helped him look at his people and ancestors in a new light. "I'd always be going through fields back at home on the reserve, and I wouldn't really think much of it. But now when I do go through it, I can't help but just look at every little thing, every little detail," he said. "It's honestly so amazing just to see things so differently."
CBC
01-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Calgary archeology program sheds light on province's pre-contact history
With a history spanning well over 10,000 years, Alberta is a prime location for those looking to uncover ancient ways of living. A Calgary archeology program is shedding some more light on that history while giving aspiring archeologists hands-on experience in the field. Running from May 15 to June 4, the program is a partnership between the university and the City of Calgary. Last year's field school took place in Nose Hill Park, while this year brought students to Edworthy Park in southwest Calgary. It's a great opportunity to both train students and educate the public about the long-term history of Calgary and Alberta, said Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer, assistant professor with the University of Calgary anthropology and archeology department. "This site actually has been known since the '70s. It's just never been excavated," she said of the Edworthy Park dig. "A big part of why we're doing it in park spaces is so we get the random dog walkers coming by, and we can talk to them about the history that's here," said Amundsen-Meyer. The findings have yet to be radiocarbon dated for a precise age, but according to Amundsen-Meyer, it's an Indigenous pre-contact site. "Right now we don't know how old this site is, but we do know that within the city of Calgary, there are sites that stretch back from the contact. Fort Calgary, all the way back eight, even nine thousand years … if we look at the province as a whole, we're talking 13,000 years or more." Many people going for walks in Edworthy Park might not realize the archeological significance of sites like this, or other sites across the province, which makes outreach a central part of the program. "That's older than Stonehenge, older than the pyramids, right? So there is a time depth here that I think is really important to understand," said Amundsen-Meyer. Findings at the site include bifaces (used as knives), choppers (designed to disarticulate carcasses), scrapers (meant to remove meat from hides) and other stone tools. They're fascinating, but nothing out of the ordinary for a site like this, she said. "Most of what we're finding is what we call lithics. And lithics are basically both stone tools and the garbage from making stone tools," she said. By giving students hand-on experience, they're joining the work force with a significant head start. "There's actually a labour market shortage in archeology and cultural resource management right now," said Amundsen-Meyer. "So we're feeding a lot of students straight into industry and straight into jobs. If we can train them better here, they're better prepared." Indigenous engagement is key focus Working with Indigenous partners is a central aspect of the program, with every dig being preceded by a ceremony and guidance from elders representing multiple First Nations communities playing a key role in shaping participants' understanding of Indigenous culture. "All of those pieces are showing how those descendant communities still have connections to this land, to this place and to sites like this," said Amundsen-Meyer. "I've had elders tell me more than once: you have to have truth before reconciliation," she said. "Part of that is definitely about residential schools, but I think part of it is also about educating people about the long term history of this place." Joining the University of Calgary archeology students at the Edworthy Park site are three Indigenous youth hired to work alongside the team and train as archeologists. "In my opinion, we shouldn't be doing archeology without connecting to those descendant communities," said Amundsen-Meyer. One of those young archeologists, Taren Crowchief of the Siksika Nation, is now in his fourth year with the program. "It helped me see my history and the past, and just everything about Alberta a lot differently ever since I started doing this," he said. His work with the program has helped him look at his people and ancestors in a new light. "I'd always be going through fields back at home on the reserve, and I wouldn't really think much of it. But now when I do go through it, I can't help but just look at every little thing, every little detail," he said. "It's honestly so amazing just to see things so differently."
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Why Calgary wants your mosquitoes – dead or alive!
They don't care if you kill it first, but city officials are asking Calgarians to send them their mosquitoes this summer. The City of Calgary is teaming up with the University of Calgary on a citizen science project examining mosquito ecology and the potential health implications of the invasive northern house mosquito, also known as culex pipiens. The process is simple: just head to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary or Ralph Klein Park to grab a mosquito kit – which comes with a collection tube and label – and use it to collect mosquitoes encountered in the park during your visit, whether alive or dead and squished. You then fill out the label with the date, time and location, and drop off the sample in boxes within the parks. 'What we'll do, is then identify what the mosquito is, and that'll help us know where mosquitoes are throughout the city that are harassing people, and what species of mosquito they are,' said John Soghigian, an assistant professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary. 'Of course, we also are still putting out traps all over the city and working with The City of Calgary to monitor mosquitoes, but sometimes it's hard to get at mosquitoes when they are actively seeking a host, so this helps us do that.' Calgary collecting mosquitoes from citizens for science Calgary is collecting mosquitoes from citizens for science in summer 2025. Alex Coker, an integrated pest management technician with the City of Calgary, says citizens will start to see more mosquito activity now that the temperatures have climbed. Calgary has 35 to 40 different mosquito species. All of them tend to lay their eggs near or in water. 'A lot of the mosquitoes we have here are floodwater mosquitoes, they use bodies of water that dry up multiple times through the year, so things like ditches are areas we tend to focus on when it comes to monitoring the larvae,' Coker said. She cautioned that they also breed in rain barrels and bird baths, something for homeowners to keep in mind. The City of Calgary uses a bacterial product to fight local mosquito populations. It's dispensed by spraying it into bodies of water. 'Basically, the way it works is that the mosquitoes will ingest it … and it gets activated once they eat it, and basically it creates pores in the lining of their gut, and that's what kills them.' If there is a lot of standing water throughout the city, officials can use an aerial program, which allows them to use a helicopter to apply the bacterial product to a large area over a short area of time. If you've ever wondered why city officials can't just attempt to eradicate all the mosquitoes, it's because they actually are vital to the ecosystem. Only female mosquitoes feed on blood; males rely solely on nectar as a food source, while females use both. Because both males and female feed on nectar, they do act as pollinators and also serve as a food source for a lot of species including birds and dragonflies, and also aquatic organisms like fish. Coker says mosquito numbers in Calgary typically peak in July.
CTV News
25-05-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Marathon runners take over Calgary streets Sunday, forcing numerous street closures and parking bans
Many streets downtown and in Kensington are closed Sunday for the Calgary Marathon until 3 p.m. (Photo: X@yyctransportation)
