[LINK] Problems with Vic Fire alert App

[Frank O'Connor]

Mmmm ...

Add to those deficiencies that:

a) Information overload seems to be the name of the game in the latest version. I mean the map is just dotted with EVERY CFA and emergency incident (whether they relate to a fire or not, whether they relate to a structural fire or a grass/bushfire, whether they represent a public rather than specific private threat or not .. etc. etc.) that can possibly be culled from the CFA and emergency services databases. A little filtering would be a nice thing.

b) Apple Maps continues to provide diabolically bad Location Services data ... despite its deficiencies being enumerated months ago. Apple should either provide the developers of the Fire Alert map with a way to access more reliable Map services (eg. the freely available Google) with their App, or brief their legion of lawyers and PR people to prepare for law suits and REALLY bad press when someone dies as a result of relying on their poor mapping/location determination services. 

c) The original Fire Alert App was an order of magnitude better than the current version ... especially for its target audience. I'd suggest that the CFA go back to that, and seriously think about what changes it makes. I'd suggest that changes that add value rather than look cool but subtract value would be in order. Currently the App, its Map screen and its interface are too damn 'crowded' to the exclusion of usability.

The Victorian government is getting a bit of a 'history' going with its provided Apps. The old Metro transport timetable App is a case in point. Yes, it had a dicky interface, but it was logical, it got the job done, and as a database App it worked pretty much as a database app was supposed to work. Fast-forward to the 'new and improved' Metro App and it’s a disaster ... completely counter-intuitive and illogical in operation, makes a mess of the core functionality, has an update process buried in unexpected UI elements (I like having offline capability), different downloadable data format so old-time users HAVE to update ... no consumer choice at all, deletes some features that were popular. Not exactly a Great Leap Forward.

I suppose the lesson here is that developers should decide what the purpose of an App is, and they should write it for their target audience. Too often however 'feature creep' and simple administrative/bureaucratic interference get in the way and ruin what had been useful software.

Just my 2 cents worth ...
---
On 20/02/2013, at 10:17 AM, Jan Whitaker <jwhit at janwhitaker.com> wrote:

> 
> 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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