Panorama

There was a great photo in today’s edition of the Vancouver Sun. It was a photo of a massive swarm of about 20,000 bees that had taken over the entire rear corner right side of an automobile in Kitsilano. A Beekeeper was brushing off the bees into a dust pan.

I can’t show you the photo because I don’t want to run afoul of Bill C-61, Canada’s proposed new Copyright Act!

Anyway, the story behind the photo was that the police had called local beekeeper, Allan Garr, to remove the bees.

Instead of the Vancouver City Police being involved, this would have been a perfect example of how Vancouver’s 311 Contact Dialing System could have been used instead of using police resources. In fact this example of what the 311 Access Vancouver Information System can accomplish should be included in the 311 Knowledge Base which the city is working on now. The 311 knowledge base will be a central resource for city information and services.

311 dialing is coming to Vancouver and it is scheduled to launch June 2009. The city has just released an Update on Progress of 311 Implementation

If done properly it will a great system that will pay for itself, generate extra revenue for the city and free up valuable police resources by redirecting the many non-emergency calls that go now end up going to 911 because people don’t know where else to call.

You can read more under my 3-1-1 Vancouver category.