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Last year, winter hit the U.S. hard. Countless areas received record snowfall in just one storm which shut cities down for days and stranded numerous motorists; Chicago being one of them. In the hopes of preventing last year’s disasters from occurring this year, the city has developed ChicagoShovels.org which relies on GPS tracking devices affixed to the city’s 300 plow trucks.

Residents will be able to log onto the site and see in real-time the location of each and every snow plow at any point during the storm. As soon as the storm begins, the devices on each vehicle in the fleet will be activated, their location instantly mapped using their GPS tracking coordinates. This will allow residents to see how likely making it to work on time would be, and save the panicked person whose car is parked on the street, showing them exactly how close the plow is to their location and help guide the decision to dig it out before it gets towed away.

Didn’t make it to your car fast enough? Save yourself from the shock of walking outside to an empty parking space by installing one of the many apps also offered by the city which alerts you when your car is towed. Another useful app leads those who may have lost power during the storm to the closest location for shelter, food, or medical attention.

The website will also offer an “Adopt-a-Sidewalk” section where residents can volunteer to help maintain a sidewalk after a storm, along with a “Snow Corps” section to recruit people to aid in moving large piles of snow on a volunteer basis.

Other cities have used GPS tracking for snow plows as well, such as New York, which was hit hard by a storm last year that kept some neighborhoods inaccessible for days and caused massive headaches for administration. New Jersey and Lake County, IL have also begun tracking plows. However, Chicago is offering the first program that lets residents in on the action.

It sounds as if Chicago is taking winter very seriously this year, and you can’t really blame them after the hard hitting storms of 2011. And to those who point out it’s been a mild winter thus far, implying that it’s a bit overboard to set up this program, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the unpredictable white stuff. John Tolva works for the Mayor of Chicago, and knowing winter has just begun, wisely commented “I’m not calling this a mild winter yet.”