Alexandria, VA — Today, APCO celebrates the one-year anniversary of establishing the Application Community (www.AppComm.org). Recognizing the potential of apps to revolutionize public safety communications, APCO created AppComm to facilitate collaboration between public safety professionals and app developers to foster development of the most effective apps for public safety. AppComm serves as the single, trusted resource for mobile apps serving a public safety or emergency response purpose.

Since launch, over 25,000 people have visited AppComm, and it more than doubled in size, now listing over 175 apps.  This infographic illustrates how much AppComm has grown into a comprehensive and indispensable tool for innovation in public safety apps.

In conjunction with the site’s growth, APCO held brainstorming and app demo sessions at events throughout the country and advanced its leadership by:

• Entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with FirstNet to collaborate on apps;
• Commencing the development of an ANSI standard for apps that interface with public safety communications centers;
• Publishing the Key Attributes of Effective Apps for Public Safety an Emergency Response, a high-level list of unique issues for public safety apps that guides the selection of apps for inclusion on AppComm; and
• Hosting a Public Safety App Security Requirements Workshop in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and FirstNet, the outcome of which will be a White Paper published by NIST.

“AppComm’s reception by the public safety and tech communities has been excellent,” said APCO President Gigi Smith.  “The high quality feedback and ideas for new apps shared by APCO members and other visitors to the site are a testament to the importance of collaboration between experienced public safety practitioners and technology professionals.  I look forward to AppComm’s continued growth and the opportunity to engage with new partners for the benefit of public safety.”

One of APCO’s next steps will be participating in a Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Mobile App Hackathon, May 2-3, in Washington, DC.  APCO is inviting public safety communications professionals to serve as expert coaches who would work with the developers during the hackathon to create new apps designed to address public safety use cases.  President Smith noted, “One of the most exciting elements of the hackathon is the first-ever APCO Challenge, which calls for the development of apps that can improve situational awareness for responders in the field and assist 9-1-1 Call Centers with receiving better location information for emergency calls.”  New apps emerging from the hackathon will be featured on AppComm.  More information about the event is available here.