Mobile applications Survey

Executive Summary

February/March 2009

Produced by: In Cooperation With:

Introduction
When faced with life-saving decisions or navigating the multitude of challenges of daily
operations, is your jurisdiction’s public safety personnel and first responders equipped to
communicate and share mission-critical data effectively? This is the question Emergency
Management set out to answer when we surveyed emergency management and public
safety professionals on their current technology and intelligence capabilities.

Mobile applications are having a profound impact from facilitating interoperable com-
munications to better situational awareness for incident management and first response.
Bottom line is that the continuing advancement and effective use of technology creates a
safer environment and overall better public service.

Whether it’s the instant querying of a criminal background on scene, EMS crews transmit-
ting patient vitals to prepare a hospital, or real-time location mapping of an officer in need,
mobile applications are a lifeline when success or failure offers only seconds to respond.

In February 2009, Emergency Management posed a series of questions to its readership

to get a baseline understanding of at what level their jurisdiction’s have deployed mobile
applications to give their command staff, first responders and other key stakeholders
immediate communication resources and real-time access to vital data.

Nearly 350 responses were captured from across the country. The aggregate is presented
in this summary.

Survey Participation
This Web-based survey was completed by a random sampling of police and fire chiefs,
first responder management, emergency medical service workers and other IT professionals
across the state, local and federal sectors. The targeted population was given approximately
two weeks to respond, and received email communications directing them to the online
questionnaire.

All aspects of this survey including questionnaire development, deployment and report
preparation have been executed by Emergency Management.


 Executive Summary
1. Has your jurisdiction/agency deployed mobile applications to enable users to access mission-critical data?

1
No 6
23.9%
76% A significant 76% of those surveyed
verify that their jurisdiction/agency
leverages mobile applications for direct
access to mission-critical data.

Yes
76.1%

2. What types of mobile applications have been deployed by your jurisdiction/agency?

2 (Please check all that apply.)

4
74.2% Public Safety (Police, Fire, EMS)

55.5% Emergency Operations

35% Geographic Information Systems

19.9% Video Surveillance Feeds

17.2% Inspections (Building, Health, Maintenance, Environmental)

7.1% Health and Human Service Casework

3/4 Nearly three-fourths, or 74% of

respondents, site that the primary type
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 of mobile application deployed is in a
public safety environment.

5
3

 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
3. What types of devices are used by your jurisdiction/agency’s employees to access mobile applications?
(Please check all that apply.)

88.7% Laptops
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
1 6
58% Smartphones/BlackBerry devices

50.8% Land Mobile Radios 89% Laptops, at 89%, is the primary device
leveraged by respondent jurisdiction/
agencies to access mobile applications.

0 20 40 60 80 100

4. Can responders in your jurisdiction/agency access Hazmat data for a particular location on mobile devices
without having to go through dispatchers?

Don't Know
21.3%
4

40% of those surveyed concur that direct access

to hazmat data without having to contact
dispatchers is available in their jurisdiction/
agency. However, another 39% do not have
access to this type of resource.
No
Yes
39.2%
39.5%

5

 5. Can responders' physical location during an incident be tracked on a single screen in an
Emergency Operations Center or dispatch center?

Don't Know
5 12.5%

63% A significant 63% cannot track

responder physical locations on a single
screen during an incident for real-time
resource management.
Yes
No
24.5%
63%

6. Can EMS personnel transmit patient data directly to hospitals using mobile applications and devices?

6
Don't Know
35.6%

Yes
No 30.5%
34%

31% of those surveyed verify that EMS personnel

can communicate in real-time via mobile
technologies to transmit patient data to
hospital employees.


7. Which of these new capabilities would be most useful for your jurisdiction/agency to deploy in the
future? (Please check all that apply.)

71.4% Emergency Operations

61.3% Public Safety (Police, Fire, EMS)

51.4% Geographic Information Systems

42.9% Video Surveillance Feeds

29.2% Inspections (Building, Health, Maintenance, Environmental)

27.6% Patient Data

12.4% Health and Human Service Casework

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
71% Emergency operations (71%) is the top
capabilities area that will be most useful
to respondent agencies/jurisdictions.


 This survey has been conducted in partnership with:

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