GEOFAR

GIS-based Emergency SOS system

for Faster Accident Relief





Sandip Gangakhedkar
GEOFAR
GIS-based Emergency SOS system
for Faster Accident Relief

The Problem
Credits: www.cepolina.com






In the year 2011, there were
440,000 casualties
136,000 deaths
$57 billion loss to GDP
due to road accidents

1 person dies every 4 minutes
on Indian roads
GEOFAR
GIS-based Emergency SOS system
for Faster Accident Relief
The Problem
Societal
- Lack of enforcement of driving laws
- Absence of legal machinery to penalize
accident perpetrators
- No best-practices coupled with low awareness
Infrastructure
- Poorly built and narrow roads
- Lack of adequate emergency services
- Absence of national emergency help-line

Geographical
- Low accessibility in difficult terrain in sub-
Himalayan region, north-east India etc.
- Highly unregulated and chaotic roads due to
inherent situation.
Behavioral
- Poor attitudes towards traffic laws
- Unwillingness to invest in road safety due to
cost and availability considerations
- Public apathy towards accident victims
A solutionGEOFAR
GEOFAR is a GIS-based and SMS-enabled emergency alert system to reduce
emergency response times and accurately locate accident sites, thus saving
precious minutes and lives.

- Designed for the Indian context, but can be applied to other similar
environments.
- Built using open-source tools and widely available technologies like GSM
mobile connectivity, GPS (not mandatory) and GIS.
- Statistical engine built into the system for identifying accident hotspots,
system effectiveness and future extensions.
- Aiming for massive deployment and ubiquitous presence

GEOFAR
GIS-based Emergency SOS system
for Faster Accident Relief
GEOFAR: How it works
GEOFAR
GIS-based Emergency SOS system
for Faster Accident Relief
SMSC
1 GEOFAR
1. SMS is sent from
accident site to a special
number, with or without
location information,
depending on GPS
availability
2. SMS is routed to the
operators SMSC.
GIS database
3. SMSC obtains user
location from the
operator network (is
absent in the original
message) and then
forwards SMS to the
GEOFAR web server
4. The GEOFAR server
uses the location
information in the
SMS to query the GIS
database and find the
nearest emergency
hospital.
5a. The GEOFAR
server makes an
emergency call on
behalf of the user to
the hospital with
location information
of the accident site.
6a. Emergency services are automatically
dispatched to the accident site.
5b. SMS reply with hospital
contacts are sent back to the SMSC
and routed back to sender.
6b. Sender receives contact
details of nearest hospital to
directly communicate and
provide further information.
GEOFAR: Why it will work
Low-cost
In a developing economy like India, any advanced high-cost solutions have limited reach as the majority cannot
afford it.
There is zero/minimal extra cost for any of the involved parties users, telecom operators, hospitals.
Scalable
Indias road network is over 4.2 million kms, the third largest in the world and the fastest growing of all
countries (11 kms added each day). So in order to have a huge impact, any road-safety solution must be
scalable.
GEOFARs technology will combine existing cellular network infrastructure with low-cost production grade web
services, thus allowing high-scalability.
Ever evolving
The statistical engine running in the GEOFAR servers will constantly analyze the outcome of the queries and
evaluate the success and failure rates of the system (by checking with the emergency medical centers). This will
allow constant fine-tuning of the system to maximize its operational efficiency.
GEOFAR
GIS-based Emergency SOS system
for Faster Accident Relief
Projected Impact
GEOFAR
GIS-based Emergency SOS system
for Faster Accident Relief
The sheer number of road accidents in India over 440,000 with over 136,000 deaths only in the year 2011
shows that there is tremendous potential for making Indian roads safer.
Public safety research indicates that the ability of emergency response service (EMS) personnel to quickly
reach crash sites is a critical determinant of final crash outcome
1
.
Statistics show that knowledge of the exact location of the accident reduces the response time of rescue
teams by 40 % in built-up areas and 50 % in rural environments.
Further research indicates that Accident Notification Time (ANT) is a more critical determinant in reducing the
risk of death than EMS response time
2
.
In the Indian context where ANT and EMS response times are probably much longer than average, an instant
emergency alert system with accurate localization of the crash site can significantly shorten both the ANT and
the EMS response times.
The GEOFAR system provides exactly these two services: instant emergency alert and accurate localization. It
is a step in the direction of using technology to build mass-deployed, low-cost and effective solutions to tackle
major social problems in emerging countries.

No one knows for sure how many lives could be saved or how many injuries eased by the faster arrival of an
ambulance. But no one can argue against a rapid EMS response when lives may be in danger.
Implementation plan
P
H
A
S
E

1

- Preparing the GIS
database of
hospitals/emergency
care centers.
- Enlisting support and
participation of
hospitals and beginning
talks with operators.
- Identifying technical
requirements related to
mobile and web
processing.
P
H
A
S
E

2

- Developing the mobile
app.
- Developing the web
back-end to process
incoming SMS and
querying the GIS
database to obtain
result.
- Finalizing
communication chain
with selected
operator(s) and
hospitals.
P
H
A
S
E

3

- Conduct pilot runs on
selected highways
(Mumbai-Pune
expressway and
Mumbai-Goa highway
NH-17)
- Rollout system to
more national and state
highways in India.
GEOFAR
GIS-based Emergency SOS system
for Faster Accident Relief
What is needed?
GEOFAR
GIS-based Emergency SOS system
for Faster Accident Relief
Operations
support
Awareness
Mentoring
Technical experts who can provide the
vision and advice to guide
implementation.
Corporate and government liaisons to
forge partnerships and conduct awareness
campaigns.
Seed capital to get basic web
infrastructure in place and begin pilot runs
and operations.
Thank you!


Email me: sandip.gangakhedkar@gmail.com
Call me: +49 0177-3485668