Hong Kong Observatory website - Most Favored ICT Application in Public Service

The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) was presented with a Gold Award in the Best Public Service Application category of the 2007 Hong Kong Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Awards at the presentation ceremony today (January 21) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Best Public Service Application Award, one of the seven categories in the 2007 Hong Kong ICT Awards competition, was organised by the IT Division of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers.

The judging panel of the competition provided the following comment on the HKO website: "With its well developed website, the Observatory addresses Hong Kong citizens' increasing demand for more comprehensive, accurate and timely weather information very much. The Observatory website is ever improving to provide weather education materials to the mass public on weather awareness."

The HKO website has been providing the public with relevant and reliable weather information since its launch in 1996. Its clientele has been growing steadily with time. In 2007, the number of page visits surpassed the one billion mark which was equivalent to almost three million visits per day on average, making the HKO website the most popular Government website in Hong Kong.

With over 35,000 webpages, the HKO website is packed with information. Apart from the pages on latest weather forecasts, one-stop portals are also offered to serve senior citizens, schools and other sectors. In 2008, HKO's objective is to enhance its service to mobile platforms so that people on the move can maintain in contact with the HKO website and obtain the latest weather information using PDAs or smartphones.