A Smartphone-based hazard reporting service in disaster areas

Fahad Al Harbi Supervisor : Dr. Haifeng Shen

Outline

• Introduction:– Emergency Call Center Topology.– Defects in Emergency Call Center.

• The aim of the whole project.• What is my Part in the project?

– The Interface.– The Database.

• What I have done until now.• What I’m going to do.• Conclusion.

Introduction• A Emergency Call Center (ECC) consists of

a room staffed by emergency firemen and police officers. Each officers wears a headset to listen to incoming phone calls.

• In front of the officers there are monitors :– displays any incoming caller number and

address to which the telephone is assigned.– Another monitor contains a map on which any

address can be quickly pinpointed.– The Officers also have another monitor to

types the incoming information about the emergency call to transmit it to the call responders.

(Carol Bengle Gilbert,2008)

Emergency Call Center Topology

Emergency Call Center

Fire

Defects in Emergency Call Center

• In Ordinary Situations :– A limited number of phone lines & officers.– Long time to communicate with callers, asking

them about their personal details, address and the nature of the problems.

• In Extraordinary Situations :Such as earthquakes, wars and tsunamis ,etc..

– Phone lines will disconnect.OR– The lines will be very busy.

The aim of the whole project

• The whole project aims to design and develop new supporting system to work in Parallel with the regular ECC system, in order to keep working if the regular system stop especially in disaster areas.

• Allow people with disabilities such as mutes to communicate with the ECC.

• The project will encourages the callers to benefit from smart-phones features.

The aim of the whole project

Fire Emergency Call Center

Fire

What is my Part in the project?

• My part is to design :1- Interactive interface by using

OpenStreetMap.2- Use database to store and retrieve the user

reports and communications on hazards in disaster areas.

1- The Interface

• Use Adroid SDK & OpenStreetMapViewer to design an interactive interface which allows the user to specify his location directly in the map.

F ERI

Fire

2- The Data Base

• Use the Android built-in database called SQLite, to save users’ reports and communications.

PhoneID MsgNo Massege Time Date LiveTime

What I have done until now.

Weeks What I have done

Week 2 Background reading for the project

Week 3 Background reading for the Android platform and SDK

Collect articles which is related to my project

+ write my final document

Week 4 work with the Android GUI components

Week 5 work with the OpenStreetMap & google static maps (offline

maps) +

prepare for the seminarWeek 6 Create my first Interface

+ prepare for the seminar

What I’m going to do.

Weeks What I’m going to do

Week 7 Background reading for the project

Collect Articles which is related to my project

+ write my final document

Week 8 Background reading for the Sqlite & Android data bases

Week 9 Create my first data base in Adroid platforms

Week 10 Connect the interface with the database

Week 11 Implement my part + final result

Week 12 Implement my part + final result

Week 13 Expos poster and demonstration

Conclusion

• In conclusion, There are defects in ECC especially in disasters areas caused by busy or disconnected lines. As suggestion, We believe the use of mesh networks and mapping services can improve the ECC work during disasters.

Questions

References• Carol Bengle Gilbert (2008). Exploring the Inner Workings of a 911 Call Center [online]. Feb

5, 2008. Available from: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/575793/exploring_the_inner_workings_of_a_911.html?cat=7 [Accessed: 20 March 2011].

• Marshall Brain, Jeff Tyson and Julia Layton (2006). How Cell Phones Work [online]. Jan 18,2006. Available from : http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm [Accessed: 5 April 2011].