AT&T Mobile App Hackathon – Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness (DC) May 2-3

Public Safety Communications May 2, 2014 APCO, Technology

Did you know that mobile apps can be built in a day?

Come to an AT&T Public Safety Mobile App Hackathon to find out how. With the adoption of 4G LTE, law enforcement, fire, and EMS personnel will finally leverage the same high-speed data networks the general public uses every day. Vaulting them into the world of networked communications, these first responders will need mobile apps to help respond to emergencies more efficiently, fight crime more effectively, and help make our communities safer.

How can you help this community? Building on commercially available software, leveraging APIs from AT&T, Apperian, Google, and McAfee and engineering support from these tech powerhouses, you’ll be able to work with some of America’s finest with actual police, fire, and EMS communications experts on hand from the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) to help you conceptualize solutions and work through some of these unique and exciting Public Safety challenges. Additionally, you will have application security experts from Department of Homeland Security assisting you to enhance the function, performance, and security of your application that is critical to public safety.

This is an important market with many opportunities for developers. By hacking for public safety mobile apps, developers can mature their ideas, get involved in an exciting community, and create something to further the greater social good.

Haven’t been to a hackathon before? Read this FAQ.

Event Schedule. The following is a list of the weekends agenda

Friday – May 2nd
- 6:30PM – Friday Evening – Kickoff event with dinner, networking, and developer dating which leads into idea pitches and team formation.
- 7:00PM – Friday Evening – Speakers present (please see below for list)
- 8:00PM – Friday Evening – Pitch ideas and form teams; coding begins
- 11:59PM – Friday Evening – The facility will remain open for teams interested in hacking overnight

Saturday – May 3rd
- 10:00AM – Saturday Morning – The fun continues with breafast served in the morning! Work with the teams from Friday to complete the app spec’d. Senseis will be available throughout the entire day to help you code up your solution. App submissions will be accepted throughout the day with a deadline of 6PM.
- 1:00PM – Saturday Afternoon – Lunch is Served
- 6:00PM – Saturday Evening – Pencils down. Please sign up your teams to present via this link: http://bit.ly/hackprezreg Pitches start promptly at 6PM and are limited to three (3) minutes per team. No powerpoints unless you are only presenting an idea.

The challenges below were offered to assist teams with creating apps that will truly benefit first responders. Each challenge has been carefully vetted by the Public Safety experts and will offer an accelerator prize for best in class:

Communications: Mobile communications are essential to public safety. Interoperable voice, video, and information sharing between all personnel, which often includes responders from different disciplines and jurisdictions would dramatically enhance response efficiency and safety. Communication must be convenient and reliable. The right person having the right access at the right time to sensitive information is essential. How can your creation provide seamless and straightforward communications capabilities for public safety?

Situational Awareness: Public safety users must be aware of their surroundings and access to the most up-to-date information in order to make the best real-time, tactical decisions. However, too much information can inhibit decision-making. Reducing distractions and focusing on the outputs of data analysis can help the first responder react appropriately in a high-stress, disorderly environment. How can your creation provide data to the first responder to quickly identify relevant and actionable information about their situation or environment?

Augmented Reality: First responders can benefit from an enhanced view of the environment while in the field. This view may be supplemented by interactive map overlays, multi-user awareness, virtual browsing, and/or virtual showcasing. For instance, a tool could give these professionals information that would not otherwise be visible (example: “seeing” other responders, electrical wires, stand pipes, through obstructions) could be valuable for emergency response and first responder safety. How can your creation help to provide an augmented reality experience for the user?

APCO Location Challenge: Option 1 – The existing 9-1-1 network has been designed to automatically identify a mobile 9-1-1 caller’s location however, on occasion the location information of a mobile 911 caller is not accurate or not sent in a timely manner to the Public Safety Answer Point (911 Call Center). How can your application assist Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) receive accurate and timely information so they can better respond to emergency calls?

Option 2 – Emergency responders live in an inherently mobile environment – but their work is often done in collaboration. Thus location of first responder assets is critical to any emergency operation. To that end, how can your application help provide location-based information to a first responder in the field about his/her location, the location of others in their cohort, and give permissioned access about that information to their command (i.e. PSAP)?

The following prizes are experiential and geared towards accelerating you towards a successful business as well as expanding your network and industry knowledge:

Best Overall Public Safety App
- 1st Place – $10,000 in cash for the team to split
- 2nd Place – $3,000 in cash for the team to split
- 3rd Place – $2,000 in cash for the team to split
Best Emergency Preparedness App
- 1st Place – $5,000 for the team to split
Best Communications App
- 1st Place – $500 in giftcards for the team to split
Best Augmented Reality App
- 1st Place – $500 in giftcards for the team to split
Best Situational Awareness App
- 1st Place – $500 in Giftcards for the team to split
Best APCO Location App
- 1st Place – $500 in Giftcards for the team to split