[LINK] Problems with Vic Fire alert App

[Jan Whitaker]

http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/smartphone-apps/the-cfa-app-that-has-fires-raging-across-bass-strait-20130219-2epmc.html

I seem to recall this same story last year.

This comment is quite revealing.

 From commenter Ian:


I don't get fire alerts.

My wife gets fire alerts. Well, sort of.

She gets them when our daughter, living in Hawthorn, calls us and 
relays an alert *she* has received for our location.

We live in Harcourt, near Castlemaine,

Neither of us gets the alerts that our daughter gets.

Telephone enquiries to several responsible agencies did not yield any 
satisfactory explanation.


1. On an iPhone, Mount Alexander's, just north and east of 
Castlemaine, appears some ten-plus kilometres to the *west* - this 
may be an iPhone/Apple Maps problem, but for end users, it is a 
disaster waiting to happen.

2. A 'phone call to various agencies revealed that Fireready was 
developed witin the Department of Justice, not (for example) an 
agency with fire responsibilities such as the DSE/CFA. This explains 
the fact that the symbols on FireReady DO NOT MATCH the symbols on 
the CFA/DSE maps.
A complete stuff-up- did the DOJ's programmers NOT BOTHER to check 
the existing symbol sets? NOT AT ALL?

3. The confusion between the two symbol sets (FireReady and CFA/DSE) 
are a disaster waiting to happen. One the of worst things in 
emergencies is uncertainty. Rapid, effective action is *always" 
critical, and giving people under threat two *different* symbolic 
presentations must and will cause confusion.

4. We are advised to get info from "multiple sources". This is a de 
facto admission that FireReady is not a reliable authoritative source.

5. What if the "multiple sources" *do not agree* ? Both FireReady and 
the conventional online mapping are confused in presentation: active, 
going fires sometimes appear as a flame symbol, *sometimes* as the 
advisory red circle-with-white-cross. Yes, it is possible to click 
through and read notices, which is advisable, but with multiple 
alerts/going fires, the time and frustration are - in an emergency 
situation - neither tolerable, permissible, nor leading to confidence.

6. I hope that no tragedies are ever laid at the door of 
FireReady/online mapping. If they are, a class action/common suit 
similar to that against the power companies must be the next logical step.

7. And yes Premier, point 6 is your wake-up call.



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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