The Brief

Unfortunately, natural disasters are common in Australia. Timely and accurate communication to inform the public is critical. There is no room for error when instructing people to evacuate or indeed stay at home during a disaster or major incident. If you get it wrong, people could die. But if you work in the Emergency Services and are coordinating public responses to massive bushfires, floods and cyclones, then social media can be a hindrance rather a help as it becomes inundated with unverified information posted by the general public. Stopping social media posts from the public wouldn’t be possible. But the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) needed a way to keep up with it and provide more accurate and verified information from the professionals. With 80% penetration, we knew that a smartphone App was the solution. In a world-first, and on a tiny budget, we created "INCSnap" (Incident Snap) for QFES. This first-responder tool was launched in January 2014.

INCSnap is a digital ecosystem that provides verified, real-time key information enabling better decisions in respect of managing community safety during disasters. We combined a unique set of native smartphone functionalities to do this, including: • Incident capture: Integration of the device camera in such a way as to enable the validation and review of images and video during the incident response • High level security: We needed to store highly sensitive information securely and not allow users to send this to unauthorised parties. • More Data: Each incident and the images and information attached to it are automatically time-stamped, geo-stamped, and linked to the specific user. • Faster Distribution to the Decision Makers: The information and images are automatically distributed to stakeholders and support teams for analysis and are centrally available via the administration console. • Robust : The application works in extreme conditions and in a fully “offline mode” to cater for when disaster response staff are without phone signal coverage. The application then synchronises data with the back-end repository immediately when the device re-enters phone coverage area. • Coordination: As well as helping coordinate QFES responders, the platform is adaptable to all Emergency Services (Fire, Police, Ambulance). Available to all 2100 QFES staff, our solution provides a more formal and secure means for emergency response staff to efficiently capture, deliver, aggregate, manage and disseminate first-response data and images. INCSnap is now an essential tool to help the Response Media Communications team deliver notifications, community advice and evacuation orders using validated data to key The Premier, Ministers and the general public. The solution was developed with no outside investment yet is now impacting millions of Australians.

Our technology broke new ground in the Emergency Services. For QFES we have successfully created a tool to keep up with the public's social media posts, however one that provides accurate and verified information, and has been used at 500 incidents to date by thousands of staff. Since completion, INCSnap has already aided in emergency response management and communication for many major incidents and has been formally included within the “Commander’s Intent” (official process for Strategy and Planning around incident responses). During Cyclone Ita, INCSnap played a critical role. With the Cyclone in full fury, the Government and disaster planning authorities were urgently demanding quality information from the Cyclone’s epicentre. INCSnap was the sole source of quality imagery and data during the initial response phase. It has been credited with informing QFES response coordination, the Premier, the public, and helped save property and lives. Incsnap has changed disaster response management and has been adopted by the Victorian Fire Services. It is being reviewed by other emergency services to be rolled out nationally. INCSnap makes a difference – this App has already and will further help save lives, solve crimes, coordinate disaster responses in a secure, uniform, efficient and organized way.