CLEVELAND — The City of Cleveland has given the public access to its snowplow map, which provides progress updates during winter weather events.
3News has learned that the city has around 60 snowplows shown by the tracking software.
"They'll start showing up on the tracker as they start actively plowing," Liz Crowe, director of urban analytics and innovation for the city, said.
Crowe focuses on the technology and data behind the snowplow map. The system shows four color tones indicating the progress plows have made throughout Cleveland.
"That line will progressively get lighter in color the farther away it gets from that plow," Crowe explained.
The darkest shade of brown defines snowplows that have plowed in the last six hours. Overall, the map showcases areas that have been plowed in the last 24 hours.
"Typically, we start plowing when we have about two inches of accumulation of snow on the ground," Director of Public Works Frank Williams said.
Williams told WKYC the city has increased its staff this season to accommodate for a full second shift.
"We're going to continue to get better at snow and ice control," he added. "This is just one of the tools in our toolbox to be transparent with our residents."
The snowplow map isn't built to show roads that are in perfect condition. Rather, Crowe and Williams say it is designed to show the public the work that's actively being done to treat the roads and make them better.