About CityAlert
CityAlert is a unified crisis-intelligence map: it pulls public-safety open data, government alert feeds, geocoded media reports and community submissions into one real-time view. Instead of checking six different sources, you see what's happening — crime, fires, disasters, severe weather — on a single map.
Coverage
Global feeds (earthquakes, GDACS disasters) cover the entire planet, and place search or drawn areas work anywhere. Deeper coverage — city-level crime data, weather alerts, local media geocoding — is concentrated in the focus regions:
- Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver Police Department GeoDASH open data (2003–present) · Environment Canada weather alerts · BC Wildfire Service & CWFIF active fires
- Vernon, Canada
RCMP North Okanagan media releases · Okanagan media (Castanet, iNFOnews) · BC Wildfire Service & CWFIF active fires
- Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
GDACS global disaster alerts (cyclones, earthquakes) · NASA EONET natural events · USGS earthquake feed
- Manila, Philippines
GDACS global disaster alerts (typhoons, floods, earthquakes) · NASA EONET natural events · USGS earthquake feed
- Seattle, United States
Seattle Fire real-time 911 (Seattle Open Data) · Seattle Police Department crime reports (Seattle Open Data) · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP)
- San Francisco, United States
San Francisco PD incident reports (SF Open Data) · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP) · USGS earthquake feed
- Los Angeles, United States
LAPD crime data (City of Los Angeles Open Data) · NIFC / GeoMAC wildfire perimeters · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP)
- Chicago, United States
Chicago PD reported crimes (Chicago Data Portal) · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP) · USGS earthquake feed
- Austin, United States
Austin PD incident reports (Austin Open Data) · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP) · GDACS global disaster alerts
- New York City, United States
NYPD complaint data (NYC Open Data, quarterly) · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP) · GDACS global disaster alerts
- New Orleans, United States
NOPD calls for service (NOLA Open Data) · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP) · GDACS hurricane & flood alerts
- Washington, United States
DC Metropolitan PD crime incidents (DC GIS open data) · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP) · GDACS global disaster alerts
- Toronto, Canada
Toronto Police Service Major Crime Indicators (open data) · Environment Canada weather alerts · GDACS global disaster alerts
- Raleigh, United States
Raleigh PD daily police incidents (open GIS) · US National Weather Service alerts (NWS CAP) · GDACS hurricane & storm alerts
- Halifax, Canada
Halifax Regional Police occurrences (open GIS) · Environment Canada weather alerts · GDACS global disaster alerts
- London, United Kingdom
Metropolitan Police street-level crime (data.police.uk) · GDACS global disaster alerts · USGS earthquake feed
- Stockholm, Sweden
Polisen real-time events API · GDACS global disaster alerts · USGS earthquake feed
Data sources
| Source | Category | Coverage | Refresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| USGS earthquake feed | Disaster | Global | 5 min |
| GDACS events API (UN/EU) | Disaster | Global | 15 min |
| NASA EONET natural events | Disaster | Global | 30 min |
| NIFC wildfire perimeters | Fire | United States | 15 min |
| CWFIF / BC Wildfire Service | Fire | Canada | 15–30 min |
| US National Weather Service alerts (CAP) | Weather & hazards | United States | 10 min |
| Environment Canada alerts | Weather | Canada | 10 min |
| Vancouver PD GeoDASH open data | Crime | Vancouver (2003–present) | 6 h |
| Socrata open-data portals | Crime & 911 | Seattle, SF, LA, Chicago, Austin, NYC, New Orleans | 5 min–6 h |
| ArcGIS police portals | Crime | Washington DC, Toronto, Raleigh, Halifax | 15–60 min |
| Polisen events API | Incidents | Sweden / Stockholm | 15 min |
| data.police.uk | Crime | London / UK | 6 h |
| RCMP / local media geocoding | Crime & incidents | Vernon, Cabo, Manila | 30 min |
| Publisher RSS + GDELT | News panel | Per region | 30 min |
| Community reports | Reports | Worldwide | Live |
Methodology & caveats
- Every incident is normalized to a shared model — category, severity, location, time, source — and labelled with its source on the map.
- Media-derived incidents (e.g. Vernon/North Okanagan) are geocoded from article text and are approximate to the block or landmark level. They reflect what is newsworthy, not a complete crime record.
- Vancouver crime history uses the VPD open-data archive (2003–present), enabling year-over-year neighbourhood trend comparisons in the Trends tab.
- CityAlert is an aggregation and awareness tool. For emergencies always follow official channels — 911, Environment Canada, NHC, PAGASA, and local authorities.
Frequently asked questions
What is CityAlert?
CityAlert is a free live incident map that combines public-safety open data, government alert feeds, geocoded media reports and community submissions on a single real-time map. It covers crime, fires, natural disasters, severe weather, unrest and user-submitted reports across 16+ focus cities — Vancouver, Vernon, Cabo San Lucas, Manila, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, New York, New Orleans, Washington DC, Toronto, Raleigh, Halifax, London and Stockholm — and works for any location worldwide via place search or custom drawn areas.
Where does CityAlert's data come from?
Incidents come from official feeds where they exist — police open-data portals (Vancouver PD, Seattle PD, SFPD, LAPD, Chicago PD, Austin PD, NYPD, NOPD, DC Metro PD, Toronto PS, Raleigh PD, Halifax RP, Met Police UK, Polisen Sweden), USGS earthquakes, the UN/EU GDACS disaster system, NASA EONET, wildfire services and Environment Canada weather alerts — plus media reports geocoded from local news coverage and community-submitted reports. Every incident on the map is labelled with its source.
How current is the map?
Feeds refresh on different cycles: earthquakes every 5 minutes, weather alerts (NWS, Environment Canada) every 10, disasters and wildfires every 15, media-derived incidents every 30, and municipal crime data between 5 minutes and 6 hours depending on the city's portal. The live map auto-refreshes every 60 seconds in the browser.
Is the crime data complete or official?
In cities with official open-data feeds — Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, New York, New Orleans, Washington DC, Toronto, Raleigh, Halifax, London and Stockholm — incidents come directly from police data portals, though each has its own publication lag and reporting rules. In regions without public incident-level police data (Vernon, Cabo San Lucas, Manila), CityAlert geocodes media and police media releases, which captures only newsworthy incidents at approximate, block-level locations. Media-derived incidents are clearly labelled and should not be treated as complete crime statistics.
Can I track a specific address or neighbourhood?
Yes. Search any place worldwide, or draw a custom polygon on the map. You can save named areas locally and save or share a whole dashboard configuration via a shareable link — no account required.
Does CityAlert have an API?
The same normalized feed that powers the map is available at /api/incidents as GeoJSON, with /api/trends for historical aggregates, /api/regions for the focus-region list and /api/news for regional safety news. An MCP server for AI assistants is exposed at /api/mcp, and llms.txt provides machine-readable documentation aimed at AI tools.