Pitch
connected objects (raingauge, thermometer, etc) and smartphone app for early detection of critical thresholds and excess.
Description
Summary
What is signalert ?
Signalert is a system composed of a free crowdmapping smartphone app and a web service to view and analyse report of events sent by app users.
the system is operational worldwide in 3 languages and 8 different types of natural event and one type of man made event can be reported and share with the app.
the system has an ascending channel to allow user reporting and sharing descriptin of natural event intensity and its impacts using simplified intensity and damage scales based on universal markers recognizable anywhere regardless of the location, culture, gender, age, in an objective way.
the system has a descendng channel to send notifications, warning and share information to specified groups of users depending on their location, belonging to a users group, and other criteria.
Our system s in operation in different countries and has been adopted the French civil defense committee (HCFDC) as the crowdmapping tool proposed to French municipalties to mobilize citizens in disasters detection and response ( see FF72.org ). Other project support communities in Senegal and Nepal.
Our proposal is to connect existing networks of popular connected objects such as personal raingauge and thermometer, CO2 or ozone sensors to set up a dense networks of local sensors.
thresholds, excessive value can be detected in real time on on or more stations and a robot can scan continously and can notifiy when a local threshold fixed by a user of the app (anyone) or the webservice (partners, clients) is exceeded.
the app has already a similar system based on detection of a threshold in number and density of alerts with the app is overpassed (web service with event detection operational worldwide).
our first target would be to work and temperature, rainfall, humidity, sensors before extending to the exploitation of other measures on air quality.
What actions do you propose?
The added value is that local local climate conditions can vary widely under extreme conditions and the early and local detection of extreme values can be the base to trigger warning in areas with few or no usual hydrometeorogical or atmosphere conditions sensors networks.
our specificity is that densification of the number of sensors based on the sources phenomenon is identifying earlier the consequences (floods, rockfall, drought, extreme heat).
Speaking of floods, This means that if a connected rainfall gauge identify an excess rainfall, the local app user scan be advised in almost real time wherever they are and the communities downstream of a watershed with no flood monitoring system will be advised earlier than if there was one. The connected objects and our robot detect when critical threshold are reached and automatic warning are send to users in the area before the flood really appears downstream and this a critical issue for small watershed generating flashfloods.
Our app is already connected to French flood early warning system and forward automatically to users of any change in warning levels. When subscribing to our app, the user can select a river stretch of concern to him and receive warning changes in push mode by notifications through the app.
We plan to connect our app as a relay for other open official national or international early warning systems.
Technical actions
Using our existing infrastructure we propose to :
- Create the link to api of connected objects whch provide physical environmengal parameters such as air temperature, rainfall measurments, humidity, CO2 or short live climate pollutants
- create a function to allow user of the app to connect to selected connected object to collecte data and an algorithm to detect when a fixed threshold is exceeded on one station (for app users) or for a set of connected object covering a region.
- send a warning notification to app users or webservice users when their fixed thresholds values are exceeded.
The service would be accessible through our API and could be included in other existing services.
Testing and servicing
We propose to mobilize networks of NGO’s and of civil protections in countries where our system is already used (France, Senegal, Djibouti, Nepal) to test the services. Training material wil be prepared and a training/testing campaign will take place on each test site during a field trip of one of our members in coordination with the local relay. On each site we shall install several of the device (connected objects) and carry out test with the app on site with the communities.
we can connect within a few weeks to at least 2 or 3 API of connected personal weather stations which haves users widespread all over the world. We plan to purchase 2 stations which will be installed in Nepal on the project area of our NGO partners Architecture and development. Both the NGO and signalert have strong connections with major NGO's such as FRENCH RED CROSS, ACTION AGAINST HUNGER, DOCTOR WITHOUT BORDERS, CARE, OXFAM in at least ten countries. Our system runs already in French, English and Spanish and other languages can be added.
Feed back
After a 6 months testing period in a real conditions we shall come back to our users for a feed back and improvement.
Some critical technical points need to be tested on the field. The efficiency of the use of connected raingauges for example requires ot place the sensor in suitable points and areas where the critical houry values of rainfall are well known. the members or the NGO wil serve as local correspondants. we have identified several good places in Haiti and Nepal.
Communication
The tests will be open and accessible through a dedcated portal where the data from collected objects and reports posted with our app will visible. See our example or portal here: :http://bit.ly/2ibzaCa
Communication campaign will be launched to get more users groupe, through social medias and specialized web sites (ex : preventionweb)
Another key point is that e have requested to UNISDR to participate to the "multi hazard early warning conference" whihc takes place in Cancun, Mexico from 22 to 23 May 2017. A poster is in preparation and a lot of contact with potential users of our systme should be possible as well with potential partners.
Who will take these actions?
Our network of users and parters would be involved for test and retrofiting, improvement of service.
The project will globally piloted by us (signalert sarl). our local relays with communities will be the NGO Architecture & Development (Morocco, Nepal), the French Comitee for Civil Defense (HCFDC) for France and foreign territories, The Agency for Municipal development and the Civil Protection for Senegal, the National Center for Geospatial information in Haiti with which partnerships are already established and projects ongoing.
projetc Manager will be Dr Richard Guillande, general manager of Signalert sarl.
On each test area, we shall nominate a partner responsible and a community responsible or contact for the testing period.
we are setting up partnerships to promote and developp our capacities. As an example, we have joined the proposal "wildfire awareness training and capacity building in West Africa" with a tema of NASA (NASA ROSES-2016 NNH16ZDA001N -GEO). Our app will be the field tool for ground truthing of sapece imagery interpretation and our data will be made available through the GLOBAL WILDFIRE INFORMATION SYSTEM (GWIS). In that framework, we should join NASA team in training and capacity builindg of NGO's, governments, and the public on the field. We thus address the monitoring of some human GHG emission and smokes that severaly affects the health of vulnerable groups and contribute to global warming.
Where will these actions be taken?
As mentioned before, we plan to launch simutaneously the project in fours countries and territories:
-whole France
- Haiti (region to be defined but can be the whole country or a city such as Cap haitie)
- Senegal, with a focus outside Dakar where short term EWS are almost absent.
- Nepal, Dolakha district
- Western Africa
the project can be extended to any other area within days provided a signed agreement is obtained with a local rely able to promote and prepare the tests. Operations can be launched within the next year taking advantage of ongoind operations of Signalert in these test areas.
the project will be at no cost for the local partners.
Signalert has users worldwide and the connected objects networks are also widespread. We can easily propose to deploy the application in any country using existing networks or even propose to create ew local etwork of users and objects.
The sensors are userfriendly, have low costs and require little or no maintenance. A set of new sensors can be purchased and installed easily in remote places, the only requirement being to have energy and wifi or 3G connection.
Immediate test can be carried out in Nepal, France and Senegal or any country where Spanih or English or national language.
Beside the new local early warning capacity provided by connected sensors having already api to share their data, our project.
On the short term we plan to introduce in our app a capacity to describe air pollution using our scheme of intensity scale. People will describe what they see, feel, smell, hear of the phenomenon with the app and data will be merged on our web platform with the physical values ofthe CO2 or fine particle sensors, giving a new sense of what the dangerosity is of the air pollution.
The app and the web services always come along with description of the intensity scales, behavior advices, and the descending channel allows any users to the advise the other users in a specific area and warn them about any danger by notification.
What are other key benefits?
The app user scan create local groups to warn eachothers of something happening independantly of any official regional early warning center.
We have alrady introduced in our systems flood hazard maps of various areas in Europe and Haiti and such data on dangerous areas (static or dynamic) are permanently poster and can be pushed to local users.
We used cheap devices and our app works on the lowest cost smartphone. Investment if low, equipment is accessible to comunities and NGO’s and don’t require any technical knowledge except than local knowledge of what are critical intensities or durations of rainfall or heat waves which triggers damages to people or assets in communities.
The whole system is designed to be users by non specialists (either app and client side web service) and a very minimal knowledged of internet is required to pilot a webservice client account if an are monitrng is subscribed.
What are the proposal’s costs?
The minimal cost is 25500 us $ to test n one site. Each Additional site will require 6000 us $ more.
Beyond development project the running costs are close to zero provided the community maintain and protect the devices. Subscription to our services reachs a few hundred dollar per year, an amount very accessible for small or large NGO’s of even directly to communities.
Time line
The total duration is 15 months including feedback on test sites but the system can be deployed within 4 months after launch of the project.
Related proposals
Related proposals
The following proposal were found as having common objectives, targets, or technologies with our project
· Climate Information Mobile App / Orlale
· Center for Citizens Climate Action / United For Progress
· The VNMS and Lifetowers: Solutions for last mile early warning dissemination / Animesh
· Early Warning Systems and Flood Disaster Management using Mobile Crowdsourcing / Disaster Nepal
References
1. R. Guillande. Tohoku tsunami impact assessment on Fukushima nuclear power plants from high resolution satellite imagery, tsunami session NH5.1, EGU 2011.
2. Richard GUILLANDE, Annalisa GARDI, Nathalia VALENCIA, Tugdual SALAUN - Méthode pour l'élaboration de scénarios d'impact et de dommages en cas de tsunami – 8ème Colloque National AFPS 2011 – Ecole des Ponts ParisTech 3, july 2011.
3. Guillande R., Salaun T. – Building scenarios of tsunami impacts for preparedness and evacuation on Euro-Mediterranean coasts : SCHEMA and MAREMOTI Projects. Colloques “villes, risques majeurs et evacuation” – UTC compiègne, 18-19 oct. 2011. France
4. R. Guillande. Tohoku tsunami impact assessment on Fukushima nuclear power plants from high resolution satellite imagery, tsunami session NH5.1, EGU 2011. Juin 2012.
5. R. Guillande - Signalert : une application smartphone de cartographie participative pour les risques naturels. Colloque Gestion des risques d’inondation, SHF-AEFPTB, paris 27&28 mai 2015.
6. Approche et cahier des charges génériques d’évaluation de l’aléa tsunami sur les projets et chantiers côtiers pour des industriels français / Generic methods and terms of reference for tsunami hazard assessment on new projects for majors of French industry, - Richard GUILLANDE, Hélène HEBERT, Richard MARCER, François SCHINDELE, Philippe LATTES, Jean-Maurice MATHELET, Charles FERNANDEZ - 9ème Colloque National AFPS 2015 – IFSTTAR – 30/11 – 02/12 2015 Marnes-la-Vallée.
Other technical or periodic publications:
Ø Guillande R., Thywissen K., Chiroiu L., Buton J.M. Postma R. - When disaster strikes - GEO-CONNEXIOn - april 2004 - vol 3, issue 4.
Ø Thywissen K., Buron J.M., Guillande R. - Integrated Near Real-time natural disaster management in France - Earth observation linking small or Medium enterprises - Geo-Informatics - 5, July-August 2004, vol. 7.
Ø RAPIN F., GUILLANDE R. - Une nouvelle échelle d'intensité pour les avalanches -Ingénieries n°38, CEMAGREF. Juin 2004.
Ø RAPIN F., GUILLANDE R. - Une nouvelle échelle d'intensité pour les avalanches - Neige et Avalanches, n°109, mars 2005.
Ø S. Scheer, A. Gardi, R. Guillande, G. Eftichidis, V. Varela, B. de Vanssay, L. Colbeau-Justin - Handbook of Tsunami Evacuation Planning - SCHEMA (Scenarios for Hazard-induced Emergencies Management), Project n° 030963, Specific Targeted Research Project, Space Priority - published by JRC-IPSC - EUR 24707 EN – 2011 – ISBN 978-92-79-190865. http://www.schemaproject.org/spip.php?rubrique4
By:
signalert team
