Everyone can help report fires early and save the nature from wildfires.
We are delighted to launch a new product – RoboticsCats ReportFires web app – a tool for you to report fires and protect our country parks from wildfires!
We already have a lot of sad news about wildfires in early 2020.
We hope to help reducing wildfire damages by detecting them early. The sooner a fire is reported, the sooner the firefighters can take action to control it. We want to invite you to join us to help report wildfires early.
reportfires.RoboticsCats.com is a FREE and EASY-TO-USE web app for reporting fires.
We hope you do not need to use it. However, IF you see a suspicious distant fire or smoke while hiking in country park or trail, first make sure you are SAFE, inform the local authority, then
- browse reportfires.RoboticsCats.com on your smartphone,
- allow sharing your location,
- select Report on the menu, click on the map or search the location name to locate the fire you see, and submit it. That’s all.
The web app is built on our experiences and expertise in wildfire detection. Instead of our purpose-built InsightFD robot, it is your smartphone that provides the location of the fire. We use crowdsourcing and AI technologies to locate fires. Human cannot see as far and precise as InsightFD robot. However, with a sufficient amount of data, our system can well estimate the location of wildfire.
“Emergency responders, with crowdsourced detection systems in high population area, worry less about early ignition detection.”1
We will share the information with the public through the website and social media. We believe the public needs timely and crowdsourced information about wildfire2. Norway and the United Kingdom used social media to raise public awareness and understanding of wildfire situation3.
The risk of wildfires in Hong Kong is high in March and April. We hope we can help protect our beautiful natural environment.
Everyone can help. You can. We can.
Please help to share this blog post with your friends.
FAQ:
1. How does it work?
We use popular web technology and map interface. There is no learning curve for a smartphone user. Just browse reportfires.RoboticsCats.com. Our system employs crowdsourcing to collect potential fire locations from the public. Our AI system will analyze the user smartphone GPS location, the reported fire location, and other factors to identify possible wildfire occurrence and its location.
2. Who can view and report the identified wildfire locations?
Anyone can use it. The information is publicly available at reportfires.roboticscats.com. It is easy to access the data:
- Select View from the menu
- Zoom in/out to view the fire locations near you. Red and Grey flames represent fire locations reported in the last 6 and 48 hours respectively. (Blue flames are reported by you.)
- Click the individual flame to see more information
A reported fire will be in Pending status by default. The status is Verified if the location is verified by Authorized User. It will be Expired in 6-hour, assuming the local authority is already taking action on it. It will be dismissed from the map after 48-hour.
3. Is it accurate?
With limited information (user location and reported wildfire location) provided by the user, our system will try to identify wildfire occurrence and location with best efforts.
4. Do I need to register to use the web app?
No registration is required for public users.
There are three types of users:
- Public Users: they can report fire locations up to 5km from their current locations, as well as to view reported fire locations.
- Registered Users: they can report fire locations up to 15km from their current locations. They can access fire location statistics. Target users are frequent hikers who know very well the landscapes of their hiking trails.
- Authorized Users: on top of Registered Users’ capabilities, they can verify and dismiss reported wildfire locations. They are from local authorities.
5. Is reportfires.RoboticsCats.com an official wildfire reporting website in Hong Kong?
No, it is not an official website.
It is complementary to the existing official reporting processes. Many countries use phone hotlines (e.g. 999 in Hong Kong) for wildfire reporting. We suggest people calling official hotlines first to report fires. reportfires.RoboticsCats.com is an additional channel for the public to report, share and receive wildfire information. Technologies can accelerate information dissemination1, improve public awareness and engagement to report wildfires. Everyone can help.
6. Does RoboticsCats ReportFires web app work in other countries?
Yes. At the initial launch, we focus on Hong Kong. We are also working with the Indonesia government to test the web app. You can click the phone icon to call the local authority. We will work closely with other local authorities to make the app available in more countries. Please contact us at info@RoboticsCats.com for more information.
7. What are the device requirements?
Any modern smartphone, running Android 8.0 or iOS 13, supports GPS location & direction.
Reference:
- WUI Operational Requirements and Capability Analysis – Report of Findings, Department of Homeland Security, USA
- Why don’t bushfire warnings work as intended? Responses to official warnings during bushfires in New South Wales, Australia – International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
- Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2018 – Joint Research Center (JRC), the European Commission
