The City of Ottawa publishes their annual Garbage Collection Calendar in PDF format, which is great for printing, but not very useful for using electronically. This project aims at providing a more open version of the calendar.
The iCalendar format is a standard used by many applications to transfer calendar data, most commonly meeting and event invitations.
iCalendar Links
The city’s garbage collection is divided into four zones: A, B, C and D. Use their search tool to determine which zone, and which pick-up day applies to your address.
| Zone | English / Anglais | French / Français |
|---|---|---|
| Zone “A” | Monday Tuesday | Lundi Mardi |
| Zone “B” | Monday Tuesday | Lundi Mardi |
| Zone “C” | Monday Tuesday | Lundi Mardi |
| Zone “D” | Monday Tuesday | Lundi Mardi |
Raw Data
In the spirit of open data, I am sharing the source code I used to create the iCal files. I hope it may be of use to other municipalities.
Support
If you have any questions regarding this project, or recommendations for improvements, please let me know.
Special Thanks
Thank you to:
- Steven N. Severinghaus for his iCalendar validator tool.
- Willem van Bergen for using this data in another creative way at http://www.ottawatrash.ca/
- Ottawa Open Data for writing about the project in their blog post “No More Blue Bin Blues“
- Sk8Wireless for sharing the city’s response to their request for this data through Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA).
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