[LINK] Problems with Vic Fire alert App

[Richard Chirgwin]

Questions from the sidelines.

1. Why an app? The CFA Website works perfectly well on both the 
smartphones I tested it on. If the app doesn't work, kill it.

2. Frank - pre-filtering on location presumes that my location is where 
I'm worried about fire. If I'm in Sydney, I'm much more worried about a 
fire near the business in Wentworth Falls.

3. Jan - I agree that the presentation must be clear and unequivocal. 
That's badly done on the Websites as well.

RC


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