Designing Mobile Applications for Emergency Response: Citizens Acting as Human Sensors

Abstract

When an emergency occurs, citizens can be a helpful support for the operation centers involved in the response activities. As witnesses to a crisis, they initially can share updated and detailed information about what is going on. Moreover, thanks to the current technological evolution people are able to quickly and easily gather rich information and transmit it through different communication channels. Indeed, modern mobile devices embed several sensors such as GPS receivers, Wi-Fi, accelerometers or cameras that can transform users into well-equipped human sensors. For these reasons, emergency organizations and small and medium enterprises have demonstrated a growing interest in developing smart applications for reporting any exceptional circumstances. In this paper, we present a practical study about this kind of applications for identifying both limitations and common features. Based on a study of relevant existent contributions in this area and our personal direct experience in developing and evaluating emergency management solutions, our aim is to propose several findings about how to design effective and efficient mobile emergency notification applications. For this purpose we have exploited the basic sensors of modern mobile devices and the users’ aptitude for using them. The evaluation consists of a practical and a theoretical part. In the practical part, we have simulated a traffic accident as closely as possible to a real scenario, with a victim lying on the ground near a car in the middle of a street. For the theoretical part, we have interviewed some emergency experts for collecting their opinions about the utility of the proposed solution. Results from this evaluation phase confirm the positive impact that EN application have for both operators’ and citizens’ perspective. Moreover, we collected several findings useful for future design challenges in the same area, as shown in the final redesign of the proposed application.

Patient triage system for supporting the operation of dispatch centres and rescue teams

“…The IDC geolocation function indicates the patient’s condition, location and address, while the IDC management function enables emergency staff to sort cases based on receiving an emergency report. These two functions also support rapid emergency management similar to the current smart medical emergency system, especially the incorporation of geolocation services in the application [ 27 , 29 , 31 ].…”

“…Romano et al [ 31 ] used smart technology in the form of a mobile phone to support emergency responders. The geolocation and necessary information of the patient, such as photos or videos, are delivered directly to the operational centre.…”

Detecting and Tracking Criminals in the Real World through an IoT-Based System

“…In [ 25 ], a study to identify both limitations and main features regarding applications related to emergency responses was conducted. The main objective was to identify specific aspects able to drive the design phases of mobile emergency applications, by analyzing already existing contributions as well as by directly experiencing the development and the evaluation of solutions related to emergency situations.…”

ANDROFLEET: Testing WiFi peer-to-peer mobile apps in the large

“…Listing 1 describes an example of a test scenario, created with ANDROFLEET, to simulate P2P unexpected contextual events. Given I am logged in When I activate Wi-fi Direct Then I wait to see "Connection prompt" Then I press "Connect" Then I wait to see "File prompt" Then I press "Accept" Then I wait to see "File Transfer Complete" 2) Opportunistic Peer Discovery: Some of the WiFi Direct Apps (emergency apps) use WiFi Direct to create a communication infrastructure [5], [14], [27], [12], [8], [15], [6], [11], [21], [28]. To prove the ability to support a communication infrastructure based on WiFi Direct, developers have to be able to use multiple GPS datasets that will help the Peer Discovery to emulate real-life nearby peers.…”