Turnout Information Management system (TIM)

[6739264]

meh..who needs UBD when GOOGLE maps does it for free!!

Just gotta link StreetVeiw into it

[matthew]

Sadly the Google Maps API only allows usage if the product that is is used in is free to the community and available on the net.

[mattb]

Also the idea is that the system is not dependant on any other infrastructure or software, given that it is being used for turnout and dispatch of emergency resources it needs to be reliable and dependable. Having said that the ability to link Google Maps streetview into would be brilliant, might be something to think about down the track if the licensing could be sorted out.

[mattb]

A bit of an update on the Turnout Information Management system (TIM).

I know that some of you are keen to setup up the Turnout System in your own station, until recently we have not had the ability to intercept messages from the Alpha Off Air Decoder and were running it via PDW and a scanner, but that has now been rectified so the developer is now in a position to offer this program out to other brigades.

Our system at Morphett Vale is now running well, we have all messages coming from the Alpha OAD which increases reliability and means no reliance on third party software. It also means that neighbouring brigades messages are now displayed on the monitors (but no turnout alarm, voice over or map printout). We are also about to implement the page two printout for any pre-plan information we have on our major premises, this will be very useful for our fixed / private alarms.

Basically it has been working very well for us, the guys use the maps for pretty much every job and it certainly saves time. The monitors are very useful, especially when calling Adelaide Fire and needing the incident number as it is now staring at you from the front of the truck. And the voice over is handy for letting everyone know what the job is (how many people still don't read their pager when they come down for a job).

A number of HQ and Regional staff have had a look and have all said it is good and should be pushed further, the MFS also have it running at a couple of stations and seem happy with it. There was some talk of a statewide CFS / MFS licence at one stage but that has now gone quiet I think. I believe it will still be up to brigades to instigate their own purchase of the software at this point, I think it is still $600 for a volunteer brigade license.

If your interested in setting it up here is a bit of an overview of what you need hardware wise:

1) A robust PC running windows, I think 2000 is ok but we are using XP, I guess Vista will work as well. This should preferably be hooked up to a UPS.

2) A printer (if you want map printing)

3) A monitor, well at least one. We have three running from a VGA splitter box (it can support up to eight). One in the radio room and two in the engine bay, maybe another in the meeting room too.

4) A P.A. system, this is connected from the output of the PC to the input on the P.A. to give you the voice over announcements.

5) Your Alpha Off Air Decoder needs to be re-programmed and connected to a serial port on the PC. The re-programming can be arranged through Blu-fi Wireless at Kent Town. Contact me if you are serious and I can give you some more info about it.

That is about it really, if you want to have a look at how it works or want to contact the developer send me a PM and I will pass on his contact details.

Matt

[bittenyakka]

Good to hear some progress is being made,

So we would be up for about 3kmin if we wanted this?

[misterteddy]

having been at M/Vale station and watched a turnout with this sytem, very impressive. Well done to all the people involved, this is a great initiative and you guys have developed a great product.

Sadly, CFS HQ....nowhere to be seen in terms of some $$$ assitance for getting it to work, rolling it out - and rewarding the developers. Sad state of affairs really.

Again, well done to all concerned Matt and everyone else who had a part in it

[jaff]

Yeah it is surprising that CFS aren't using new technology.......................NOT, develop a new rakehoe and watchem fall over themselves to introduce that!

[6739264]

Mind you, I can think of a few more important things I would do with required cash per station - hell, a UBD Map Board showing your area would be a start. Not saying it's not a cool bit of tech and all and certainly once you get that second page of pre-plan info up and running it will certainly have a bit more value and use beyond 'cool'.

[Zippy]

Mind you, I can think of a few more important things I would do with required cash per station - filtered, a UBD Map Board showing your area would be a start. Not saying it's not a cool bit of tech and all and certainly once you get that second page of pre-plan info up and running it will certainly have a bit more value and use beyond 'cool'.

i think the best benefit is the large print pager messages, particularly for those with glasses higher up in the ranks

[mattb]

So we would be up for about 3kmin if we wanted this?

That is probably around the mark if you buy everything new, although these days it shouldn't be too hard to find a company to donate you an old PC, it doesn't have to be anything flash just enough to run windoze.

I heard yesterday that reasonably new Dell desktop machines are going at the auctions now for $200, that would be fine for TIM. Also there are a number of grants that you can apply for that are always keen to support IT infrastructure for volunteer groups.

We were fortunate in that pretty much everything for our system has been donated (we have a very good supply of donated pc's thanks to one of our members).

Sadly, CFS HQ....nowhere to be seen in terms of some $$$ assistance for getting it to work, rolling it out - and rewarding the developers. Sad state of affairs really.

When the Regional Commander and Deputy Chief had a look at it they were pretty keen to push it through the Volunteer Management Committee's for wider acceptance, that was a few months ago though and it may have now fallen off the radar. Maybe if a few other people start to push for it we may get some action on it.

[mattb]

A bit of an update on the TIM system.

I know now of at least four CFS brigades and the two new MFS stations that are using the Turnout system, so far everyone I believe everyone has been fairly happy apart from a couple of little bugs.

At Morphett Vale we have now setup four monitors, one in the meeting room, one in the radio room and two in the engine bay. This will probably be enough for our station for the moment.

We have also bee trialing the second page printout for providing some pre-plan information. This seems to be working ok and will be rolled out to the other stations in the next update I believe. I have added a demo printout so you can get an idea of what it looks like. I have used a Google Earth map but you can use whatever you like, it could be a building plan or a photo if you wanted. This info will be very useful for initial responding crews, particularly the hazards and contact details.

There has also been some work done on the way TIM handles messages generated from the Alpha Off Air Decoder, you can now choose to ignore these or display them. A number of other small features have been added and the general stability of the software has been improved.

A couple of other new features are also currently being investigated. One will provide brigade members with the ability to advise the station that they are responding to an incident, a list will be populated with the details of the member so others can see who is on the way. This is still in the early stages but if it works it could be very beneficial to some brigades.

The ability to use the computer screens to provide some information when not is use for incidents is also being worked on. It may be possible to provide some scrolling text messages to advise the brigade on training dates, equipment changes etc and have them automatically change at a certain date or time.

The developer is very keen to continue to improve this software and provides excellent support to brigades that are using it.

If you have any questions or would like a demo let me know.

[CFS_Firey]

Looking good Matt! 
How are you planning to advise the station you're responding?
Also, how does TIM work out the premises for printing the response plan?  Is it from the street address given on the MFS page, or does it work off the WFAM fixed responses?

[mattb]

How are you planning to advise the station you're responding?

I believe the plan is that the system is connected to a modem, you dial the number and let it ring once or twice and the phone number is logged, this then uses a database to determine who it is that made the call and displays it on the screen. By only letting it ring once it won't cost the member anything, obviously though this would need to be done before the person gets into their car so they are not using the phone whilst driving.

This is still only in the early stages at the moment and I'm not even sure if the developer is convinced that it will actually work, there are also some potential issues with an engaged signal and people using the 'Private Number' function but it could have a benefit for some members.

Also, how does TIM work out the premises for printing the response plan?  Is it from the street address given on the MFS page, or does it work off the WFAM fixed responses?

It looks for whatever keyword or words you set.

So you might put 'FIRE ALARM WOODSIDE ARMY CAMP' into the keyword text, because you know that every fire alarm from the Army camp is going to have that text in it, also it is unlikely that any other incidents are going to have that text. Although you could just put in 'ARMY CAMP' that way any job that you get responded to at the Army camp will print the second page. Although if you got responded to an MVA outside the 'Army Camp' it would also print page 2. It depends on what you want to do and how much you really care I guess.

For info I think there is a trial version of the program available which works for a limited time, if you are interested send me a PM and I will put you in touch with the right person.

[SA Firey]

Just a query Matt, for the developer or business to get wider acceptance of the product they have designed, could you put the details on the forum?   

[Numpty]

Sounds like a pretty cool system it would have to make faster response times. How does the system work when the station is not manned. I'm assuming the PC printer etc would have to be left on ready? when humans are not at the station. A GPS interface would be unreal, could have Topo maps/nav software in the truck and would tell you how to get there.

Cheers

[CFS_Firey]

A GPS interface would be unreal, could have Topo maps/nav software in the truck and would tell you how to get there.

Perhaps there's room in the future to merge it with the GPS tracking system Mt Lofty Group is trialling!

[mattb]

Just a query Matt, for the developer or business to get wider acceptance of the product they have designed, could you put the details on the forum?

If you want some contact details send me a pm Jeff. I am not keen on giving out the details of other people on a public forum, I will leave it for him to choose what details are made public.

Sounds like a pretty cool system it would have to make faster response times. How does the system work when the station is not manned. I'm assuming the PC printer etc would have to be left on ready?

Yes that is correct, our main pc's and printers stay on all the time.

A GPS interface would be unreal, could have Topo maps/nav software in the truck and would tell you how to get there.

With the right amount of time and money I guess anything is possible. At the moment we find the map printing a huge benefit to our brigade.

Are any brigades actually using a SatNav or GPS for route planning to incidents at the moment? I am not entirely convinced that the technology is able to do it better than a person, at least in the metro area. I use one every day and find that they are ok about 80% of the time but for an emergency response 80% is not good enough. They might be better in a rural area where there are less roads but I think that there are still a lot of variables in the urban areas that a device can not take into account.

[Numpty]

 I am not entirely convinced that the technology is able to do it better than a person, at least in the metro area. I use one every day and find that they are ok about 80% of the time but for an emergency response 80% is not good enough. They might be better in a rural area where there are less roads but I think that there are still a lot of variables in the urban areas that a device can not take into account.

I agree it would have to be something high end, the old TomTom would not cut the mustard. Improved technology has to be a bonus e.g. GPS fleet tracking so if a truck gets in trouble(as in the Vic fires)the rescue truck can be guided straight to it due to an exact lat long being known which can be displayed on a moving map. In the US they have systems that police use so at any one time any patrol car can see were all his mates are located via a touch screen display. Do SAPOL have anything like this? This may be over the top for the CFS but I can see it's value in a major event like what occurred in Vic?

[mengcfs]

Hi Matt,
It's been some tim since TIMS was spoken about on here.

Have there been any developments or issues with the system?
What were the final costings of the system?
Could the system handle rural/remote Brigades when SACAD arrives in relatioin to maps etc?
Would Rural Brigades benefit from TIMS?
Have any other Brigades adopted TIMS?

This is a great initiative the Morphettvale Brigade have adopted and I am interested to see how it is all going a few years on.

[pumprescue]

Its certainly getting around more now, seen it in several CFS stations and SAMFS are adopting a version of it. The mapping is more useful to those in built up areas that may not know every one of the streets in their area. Or have new estates etc, just got to keep pace with updates. I heard it was in the region of $600 to set up ?
Matt will know more.

[kj]

Its certainly getting around more now, seen it in several CFS stations and SAMFS are adopting a version of it. The mapping is more useful to those in built up areas that may not know every one of the streets in their area. Or have new estates etc, just got to keep pace with updates. I heard it was in the region of $600 to set up ?
Matt will know more.

Yeah I don't see it being a huge asset to us as we only have six roads in our area, and somebody in the truck generally lives down one of them. Would be nice to have a bit of bling around the sheds though.

Now where are those new rake hoes someone was talking about earlier.

[mattb]

I think there are at least 8 CFS brigades now running the system, with a few others also keen on it and currently looking at setting it up. Three MFS stations also have it running as their primary turnout system with another portable unit able to be deployed to stations suffering problems with the old VHF system.

We have found an issue with the Alpha decoder being used to feed the data into the PC. The pager messages on the SAGRN are sent in fragments, and the pagers are smart enough to put the fragment together before displaying the message. However the Alpha OAD isn't that smart, and just sends out the chunks of data as they come in. For some response messages it isn't a problem, but it seems that if there is multiple brigades being turned out simultaneously it does become and issue and you may only get one chunk of data displayed on the TIM system. This can be overcome by using an alternative decoder - the Wipath PDT3000 is the prefered option. This has resolved the issue for our brigade.

As for maps in rural areas, at this stage there is not a lot that can be done as most of the pager messages don't contain a map reference. I'm not sure if SACAD will include a map reference or grid reference for every job, if it does then hopefully we can integrate that into TIM somehow, I'm sure there will be a way to get a grid reference lookup happening somehow if it is on the pager message.

There is a few other features being tested or investigated currently, some of these will roll out soon in a new version.

• Multiple map printing (for 2nd appliance)
• Map display on the screen (you want a really big screen though for it to be useful)
• Keyword lookup and turnout activation (so the system activates when it sees your brigade code, no matter which address it is on - this can mean the system activating up to a minute before the pager)
• Ability for responding members to dial a number and have their name displayed and the time since they called scroll across the bottom of the screen (basically a call-in log so you can see who is coming)

I believe there is some new UBD maps about to come out as well for those brigades currently using the system.

Our system is very stable and works well. The first person into the station grabs the map and it definitely saves time when trying to work out where we are going.

I believe the cost for a licence is still around the $600 mark for CFS brigades.

[Ashes]

It is certainly being used near us.

Ashes

[CFS_Firey]

• Ability for responding members to dial a number and have their name displayed and the time since they called scroll across the bottom of the screen (basically a call-in log so you can see who is coming)

How is this functionality coming along?  It was a "coming soon" some years ago when we implemented TIM...

[mattb]

Basically it's still coming...

As of a couple of weeks ago the developer was trying to gain an appreciation for how many brigades would actually find this feature useful.

He has it running on the CFA version and wants to know whether we would be interested in it here, if there is a demand then he will put the effort into getting it on the S.A. version.

My brigade wouldn't use it all the time, although it could be useful for a big job when you want as many people as you can get.

What do other brigades think, would you use it ?

I have included a couple of screen shots to show how it looks on the CFA version.

Here is how it works;

If a mobile phone or modem is attached to TIM and connected to a phone line that has Caller ID (CLI), TIM can be configured to report on members who have called the station and intend to turn out to a call.

TIM will monitor a mobile phone or phone line that has Caller ID enabled, when a pager message is received, members who are attending the station can call the TIM phone number (using a speed dial number in their phone), when the phone rings ...

•   TIM will extract the calling phone number from the CLI details
•   Search for the phone number in the TIM database
•   Convert the number to the member name.
•   A list of members preceded by the number of minutes and seconds ago they called, will scroll across the bottom of the TIM screen (see screen shots below).
•   The list of members will be cleared when the screen is blanked (usually after 10 minutes).
•   The member does not have to wait to answer, once they hear the phone ringing, they should hang up.

The responding crew will be able to see a list of the members that are responding to station, and decide whether they will wait for more crew members or leave with what they already have.

All phone numbers that a member may use to call the station will need to be entered into the TIM database. If a phone call is received from a phone number that is not in the database the call will not be included in the TIM display.

The names of the members that have called, and the time since they called will scroll across the bottom of the screen …