STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (October 26, 2018)—Charleston County Consolidated 911 Center, Mission Critical Partners (MCP), RapidSOS and RapidDeploy today announced the results from a pilot project completed in September that tested the use of social media data in emergency response.

The project, which included collaborators from the Penn State University (PSU) College of Information Sciences’ 3C Informatics: Crisis, Community and Civic Informatics, led by Dr. Andrea Tapia, explored how access to social media data could potentially improve situational awareness during emergencies and its impact on 911 operations.

A key finding of the project was that telecommunicators and first responders universally agreed that social media provides the 911 community with an increasingly important tool for augmenting emergency response, provided that the data is properly integrated and operationalized.
Following a data collection phase that was completed in May, PSU, MCP and RapidSOS developed a prototype social media application that was designed to determine which types of social media data would be most useful during the call-taking and dispatching processes. This platform searches, maps and filters relevant information from a large dataset of real-world social media posts captured during emergencies and allows telecommunicators to focus on the emergency at hand without having to dig through irrelevant information. The prototype was tested in August using emergency scenarios where a communications specialist shared information with dispatchers to enhance 911 workflows.

Several other takeaways surfaced during the pilot project that will be critical elements in developing a solution that allows for improved emergency response when someone is unable to place a 911 call:

• Seeing social media data integrated within an existing call-handling or dispatching platform is key. In Charleston, a RapidDeploy cloud-based computer-aided dispatch (CAD) platform was used to demonstrate how data could be displayed in a CAD user interface.
• The integration of new data, including social media, into PSAP operations will require new, advanced training for multiple roles, including call takers, dispatchers, supervisors, managers, and technical staff.
• While first responders and telecommunicators were enthused about the opportunity to leverage social media, they offered varying opinions regarding the types of information they found most valuable given their specific emergency response role.
• New roles and skills may be necessary for monitoring, analyzing and operationalizing social media data. For example, a 911 center might want to add a communications specialist role which could provide career path progression for call takers or dispatchers with strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

“Data, and how that data is used to respond to emergencies, is a major component of 911’s evolution. The Charleston County 911 Center was excited to be part of this pilot project that will pave the way for other 911 centers nationwide,” said Jim Lake, director, Charleston County Consolidated 911 Center.

“What I found most exciting during the pilot project was the level of passion and teamwork that took place among the Charleston staff members. We cannot thank Charleston enough for their willingness to participate in this project that we feel will be instrumental as we seek to understand how data can improve emergency response outcomes,” said Dave Sehnert, director of innovation and integration, Mission Critical Partners.

“Supplemental emergency data from sources like social media offers the opportunity for more efficient, better prepared emergency response. We’re excited to work with innovators in the 911 community to explore ways for PSAPs to operationalize additional sources of emergency data such as social media,” said Tom Guthrie, vice president of public safety operations, RapidSOS.