Patch
Under normal conditions, communication systems used by dispatchers and responders work well. But what happens when an extreme emergencies arise? In situations like these, communication systems break down, failing to effectively handle the increased flow of information passed between dispatchers and multiple responder departments. As a senior project, Patch was designed to complement these systems by freeing up verbal communication channels for urgent and critical information. By dispersing secondary information in a visual manner, Patch adds clarity in situations where delays, confusion, and a general breakdown in communication flow happen all too frequently.
To research this problem further, we interviewed working dispatchers and responders (including Policemen, EMT and a volunteer Fireman) to get an idea of the systems they use and the communication challenges they face during extreme emergencies. From this, we identified two communication challenges. Firstly, Dispatchers were using outdated and sometimes manual methods of receiving, documenting, and communicating information. This quickly caused them to become overloaded during crisis as they fielded calls from both responders and citizens. Secondly, communication between responder departments was lacking in efficiency as only one person could speak over the radio at a time, and organization of plans to deal with the situation was often delayed when timing was most critical.
The proposed solution to these complex problems involved many parts. To combat congested verbal channels and delayed organization between responding departments, we designed a new interface for dispatchers and department leaders to use. To improve dispatch overload, we redefined the dispatcher's tasks into two separate roles: the information organizer (who dealt with secondary incoming information from citizens and dispersed it through the interface) and the more 'traditional' dispatch, who communicated over radio and helped to coordinate responders. Finally, to improve communication to responders, we created a mobile interface for responders to view information that was better in a visual format (ie - a picture of the suspect), and to communicate to their leaders their location.
This system was designed in collaboration with Hunter King, Sabrina Li and Julia Seltzer. Maps courtesy of Google Maps.