Design and Operation of a Cell Phone-Based Community Hazard Information Sharing System

This paper presents a hazard/crime incident information sharing system using cell phones. Cell phone penetration is nearly 100% among adults in Japan, and they function as a telecommunication tool as well as a Global Positioning System (GPS) and camera. Open source software (Apache, Postfix, and MySQL) is installed on a system server, and together with the information service provided by Google Maps, are used to satisfy system requirements for the local community. Conventional systems deliver information to all people registered in the same block, even if an incident occurred far from their house. The key feature of the proposed system is that the distribution range of the hazard notification e-mail messages is determined by the geometrical distance from the incident location to the residence of each registered member. The proposed system applies not only to conventional cell phones but also smart phones, which are rapidly becoming popular in Japan. The new system functionality has been confirmed by a trial using members of the local community. System operation began after the successful trial and a training meeting for the local residents. System design, verification results, and operating status are described in this paper.