Frustrated by city's activities website, Ottawa woman builds her own

An Ottawa woman is being hailed by some as a "hero" for untangling hundreds of city activities schedules and collating the data on her own website for others to use.

Claudie Larouche's newly launched website offers an easily searchable "activity atlas" of the thousands of athletic and social events hosted each week at City of Ottawa facilities, from yoga to euchre.

But while those who have used Larouche's free resource call it "amazing," the city is less enthusiastic and says it has no plans to adopt it.

The city's own website allows account holders to search and register for formal programs such as lessons, camps or classes, however finding drop-in programs such as swimming or skating can prove more difficult.

Currently, each of Ottawa's approximately 100 municipal recreation centres sets and posts its own event schedules on its own web page. The facilities themselves are listed on ottawa.ca.

Larouche, a federal public servant, said the idea struck her one day as she tried searching for a pool available for lane swimming, but realized she had to search through each facility's schedule.

"It was taking me forever, so I got mad," she recalled.

Used AI to build site

A computer programmer by trade, Larouche managed to wrangle all the schedules into a single, easily searchable field using an increasingly available resource.

"I haven't done any coding at all. It's all ChatGPT," she said, referring to the free-to-use AI chatbot launched in 2022.

Following her careful instructions, the chatbot spits out HTML and Java code that Larouche then fine-tunes and hosts on her personal website ClaudieLarouche.com.

She applied the same technique to untangle the city's EarlyON listings, free reading, storytelling an sing-along drops-ins for preschoolers.

She did it all in a little over a week, but said without help from AI it "would have taken me maybe an extra 30 years," Larouche joked.

Anjelika Raymer said Larouche's listings have been a huge help as she plans activities for her three children. (Stu Mills/CBC)

Parents approve

Mom of three Anjelika Raymer says Larouche's one-stop activities tool is powerful and intuitive.

Raymer said she's able to travel anywhere in the city to take her kids to the rink, pool or kinder gym, so it's more helpful for her to be able to search by time slot.

"Usually the ones in your local area fill up," said Raymer, who added she wishes the city would adopt Larouche's tool. "I think if they could compensate her for what she's done, that would be awesome."

Daily visits to Larouche's website have climbed toward 1,000 since she shared the link with a local parents' group on Facebook. Members have been singing her praises ever since.

"Not all heroes wear capes! THANK YOU!!" one parent commented.

"This is amazing! Thank you for doing the work to get this organized," wrote another.

Larouche, who has her own four-year-old son to contend with, said she's not sure how long she'll be interested in maintaining the site. (Stu Mills/CBC)

City says no thanks

Larouche said she's not interested in making money from the search tool. In fact, she said she's tried to give it the city, but was told the code was incompatible with the web technology used to run the city's own facilities listings.

In an emailed statement to CBC, Dan Chenier, the city's general manager of recreation, cultural and facility services, said any such tool would need to be bilingual and fully accessible. It would also need to be updated constantly.

"These tools may not always capture last-minute changes specific to a program or facility," Chenier warned.

Larouche, who has her own four-year-old son to keep her busy, said she's not sure how much longer she'll be able to maintain the listings on her site.

"I don't want for the rest of my life, in my free time, [to] go and extract their schedule and post it," she said. "There are City of Ottawa employees who could maybe do that."

Among the hundreds of activities listed on her site each week, Larouche said she's turned up some hidden gems including Scrabble, cribbage, bridge, dominoes and "tea and chat."

"There are lonely seniors out there," Larouche said. "I'd love for them to know that there are activities for them in Ottawa facilities. If my website can make a few people in Ottawa feel less lonely, that would be a huge success to me."