[LINK] Problems with Vic Fire alert App

[Tom Worthington]

On 20/02/13 10:17, Jan Whitaker wrote:

> I seem to recall this same story last year. ...

The Australian Emergency Alert system was originally designed to send 
text messages to mobile phones based on the billing address. This 
limitation of the system was known at the time it was developed. In 2010 
the PM and AG announced that the system would be upgraded to use the 
location of the handset. However, I don't know how far implementation of 
this has advanced: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2010/09/location-based-emergency-warnings-to.html

The standardization of the symbols used in maps is difficult, as 
different agencies are in charge of different forms of emergency and use 
different symbols. Symbols understood by experts may not be suitable for 
the general public. Also not enough use is made of standardized symbols 
in web sites, in preference to hard to interpret photos and complex 
diagrams: http://blog.tomw.net.au/2010/12/development-of-transportation.html

Another area which has not received sufficient attention is the use of 
standardized language and templates for the text of warnings. A 2011 
fire warning had spelling errors, resulting some thinking it a hoax: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2011/09/report-on-use-of-emergency-alert-in.html


On 22/02/13 13:53, David Boxall wrote:

 > ... the phone got quite hot. ...

That is okay, there is a function built into the App to add your 
location to the fire map, just before your phone spontaneously combusts. ;-)


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
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Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
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