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Abstract |
Public-Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) coordinate emergency response by gathering critical information from 911 callers for dispatch to first responders. However, PSAPs fail to gather this information if 911 callers are unable, unwilling, or unavailable to report key details about an emergency. To address this problem, early-adopter PSAPs employ communication specialists to gather multimedia information from multiple sensing tools, including automated alarms, cameras, government databases, location systems, open-source websites, social media, and alternative communication channels such as text-to-911. Using preliminary usage data from an early- adopter PSAP, this study identifies 11 breakdowns in 911 call taking that create opportunities for multisensor integration. This study then characterizes use cases for multisensor tools based on usage patterns observed across five incident types. These findings highlight multisensor integration as a critical area for crisis informatics research. |
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