SP0186: MOOSTrax

See the online McGill Carbon Calculator Tool

This project aims to create a new and improved version of the existing MOOSTrax tool, a website that calculate’s the greenhouse gas emissions created by event-goers’ travel to McGill-run events. The Beta (early launch) version of MOOSTrax was launched in conjunction with the 2015 Catalyst Awards ceremony as a means to collect and calculate the carbon cost of guests attending the event. The popularity of MOOSTrax's Beta site to date has demonstrated a solid demand for this product. The idea of being able to have guests check into an event in an enjoyable and painless manner, and for event hosts to then be able to offset their carbon costs by purchasing carbon credits is a popular one, and one that MOOS itself practices and promotes.

Feedback from organizers and event participants is critical for the development of the new MOOSTrax tool. Often event check‐in tables are crowded and rushed choke points of entry to events, and guests are weary of handing over their personal information. Event organizers then have to do tedious calculations and data entry to sort out all of the information collected at these choke points.

To finalize this tool, address stakeholders' concerns, and increase its efficiency, it will create three distinct roles:

1. The event guest: creates new check in interface; encourages guests to check in by creating a seamless and fast guest experience; provides real-time data visualization for the cost of the event
2. The event host: creates secure login page for event registration and viewing calculations from their event
3. The administrator: a way for the McGill University Office of Sustainability Climate Officer to log in and remotely update the carbon cost coefficients of travel and fuel type used in the calculation of trip costs

Resources from the SPF will be used to fund app development and web hosting.