A Strategy for Selecting Points of Interest on Mobile Devices for Emergency Situations

Abstract

The need to use mobile technology in urban emergency response processes has recently been identified, given the importance of having relevant information to make decisions in these scenarios. The data visualization on small mobile devices, such as PDAs or smartphones, is a critical aspect to make appropriate and on-time decisions. This criticality particularly occurs due to the small size of their screens to show geographical data. This article presents a strategy to select and display the most relevant “Points of Interest” on a digital map, according to the emergency influence area. This strategy was implemented on the MobileMap tool, and then it was evaluated through simulated emergency situations. Commanders of various Chilean Fire Companies participated in this evaluation.