Abstract

This work builds on a system we have developed for situation-aware mobile routing and response in an urban environment. The system permits police or other first responders to carry models of collections of often large scale, multi-floor urban buildings they encounter in urban environments. The responders must enter, find their way around, and coordinate activities with other responders and command personnel. Coordination requires overall understanding by command personnel of where first responders are (including directing these personnel), where occupants or victims are, where they are going, and what they might do. In addition, coordination may need to take into account response to the actions of perverse independent agents, such as shooters or other criminals. The system supports all this in multiple ways including permitting the responder or commander to determine shortest path 3D routes between floors in real-time, including updates of routes when path-blocking obstacles are present, locations of other responders, and locations of things of interest with respect to the responders current position (e.g., victims, flammable or dangerous materials, etc.). This paper will present some first results for this mobile system in terms of two real-world cases involving police responders: (1) response to a shooter or potential shooter in one or more large urban structures; (2) emergency evacuation in a large urban structure. The real world cases are developed as exercises with police and homeland security personnel. The paper demonstrates the need for tight integration of information provided or displayed through the command interface and the mobile interfaces. The command interface, in particular, must organize and disseminate a substantial amount of information in a timely manner. The paper will also describe initial evaluations of the interfaces and plans for improvement.