Today, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance announced the Municipality’s snow clearing vehicles are now equipped with GPS, which the public can track online at www.muni.org/plow. Now, the public can see the progress of plows moving across the city and their neighborhoods in near-real time – GPS devices will report with a slight delay to ensure the safety of operators.

In a winter city like Anchorage, snow clearing is a matter of economic importance and public safety, whether you’re trying to make it to work, to school, or the hospital. Giving the public faster access to more accurate information is one of the ways Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s administration has tightened up preparation and coordination for the community’s future snow clearing operations – despite a winter with record low snowfall.

The initiative was made possible through a collaboration between Municipal teams, including Enterprise GIS team, Street Maintenance, Parks and Recreation, and the Innovation team. They worked together to deploy GPS technology into operations with impressive speed and efficiency, achieving not just local acclaim, but earning recognition from the head of esri, the parent company of ArcGIS.

“No matter the weather today, it’s our job to be prepared for tomorrow,” said Mayor LaFrance. “We help the public know when streets are clear – and we’re asking for the community’s help giving names to our snow equipment to make it easier and more fun to track their progress.”

To help identify plows online, the Municipality needs help naming our vehicles! The Municipality will use names sourced from the community (Examples to inspire but not limit: Darth Blader, Blizzard of Oz, Frost Responder, Clearapathra).

As of today, March 4, residents can submit their name ideas online. Visit www.muni.org/nameplow to send in your submission. Proposed names can be up to 17 characters long with no special characters. They can’t violate any trademarks or include political or profane content. Specific names of individuals won’t be accepted.

Submissions will be accepted for two weeks, ending at 11:59 p.m. on March 18. A panel of judges will consider the ideas and make final selections shortly after. Winners will be notified and will get to enjoy the glory of seeing their idea plowing across screens next winter. (Or this spring, depending on the weather.)