Nasa Space Apps Hackathon
THE CHALLENGE
To create a solution that leverages NASA's near real-time and archival wildfire datasets along with other tools to support firefighting and fire mitigation efforts.
*Note: this challenge was completed before the Australian bushfires of 2020
WHAT WE ACCOMPLISHED
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Winner: Alexa best use of voice interface
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Amazon reaching out to us, and requesting us to go to market (hopefully live by end of 2020)
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Using my knowledge to help people in a practical way
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Achieving a childhood dream of mine of working for NASA
...well sort of :)
RESEARCH.
statistical
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200 people have died of bushfires since the 2019-20 bushfires
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4% of global land surface burns each year
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Nearly 50% of house fire fatalities are aged 65 +
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1 million addresses across Australia are within 100 are at high risk of having a bushfire
INTerviews
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Majority of participants did actually have a fire plan
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However that fire plan was fairly simple, and would not withstand the test of an actual bushfire according to the NSW RFS guidelines.
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Participants were confused by all the information available regarding bushfires
The problem
Last week, “an elderly couple died as part of the bushfires that ripped through northern NSW, police have confirmed”. The couple’s bodies were found inside a “significantly damaged” home. They were well known in their small community and the town is currently mourning their loss. This is not an isolated incident.
See additional research
Can we use NASA's real-time and archival wildfire datasets to minimise incidents like this?
A QUOTE
"It was a whole-body experience. You’ve got the smell of the smoke, the sight of it and then it gets dark … It was my worst nightmare"
(Rachel marks, a bushfire survivor)
MEET adamant albert (Primary Persona)
ABOUT
Albert and his wife Martha have raised 3 children in their Shoalhaven house. He built the house 40 years ago, and has various memories associated with the house. One of his fondest is youngest daughter Alice getting married.
His children are concerned with his ideas around fire safety and do not think he is equipped to withstand the test of an actual bushfire. Adam thinks he is well equiped to handle a fire because he has a fire plan and can evacuate if needed. They have done all they can to let him know of the dangers, but Albert is adamant he doesn't need to change a thing.
"I've lived in this house for 40 years and there hasn't even been a fire near us.
I think I know a fair bit about fire safety"
PAINS
While Albert is 'tech savy' compared to his peers, he gets very frustrated when he can't use technological products. This means he gives up easily if things aren't easy to pick up.
GOALS
Albert has received an Amazon Alexa recently from his eldest son Robert. Albert is getting so much into his new toy, he even got a smart lightbulb to accompany it!
The solution.
OBJECTIVE
Having the right information and a fire plan in place will empower the user on what to do when a bushfire arises, ensuring safety and preventing fatalities
What else do we need to take into account?
If the skill was to go to market and its main objective (above) was to be achieved, we needed to take into account:
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That certain situations where fires spread rapidly, we could not provide advice to
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Professional advice from the RFS and legal council in what is acceptable information / advice to give out to the public
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The NSW rural fire service has different fire danger ratings that are realtime that it releases to the public
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The recommendation that all households have a bushfire survival plan
From that information and (a great deal of deliberating):
We decided to seperate users into different categories as described by the NSW RFS: Low risk, medium risk and high risk.
We also wanted to implement an onboarding flow, that could input information for the bushfire survival fire plan.
"ALEXA WHATS MY FIRE PLAN?" (User Flow)
REACTIVE FOR USER
ONBOARDING
LOW RISK
MED RISK
HIGH RISK
PROACTIVE FOR USER
USER FLOW
ALEXA
NEXT STEPS
LAUNCHING THE SKILL
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Work with Amazon, NSW rural fire service and our developers
- Aquire legal counsel on what is acceptable information / advice to give out to the public
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Further discussions with the rural fire service about risk factors and optimal safety measures
VOICE USER INTERFACE
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Integrate sources of information to include bureau of meteorology and rural fire service for higher accuracy
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For medium fires, inform users (based on risk factors from the sources above) of when they have to leave
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Create graphic user interface for echo show, keeping in mind 'Adament Albert's preferences
see how it works (Demonstration)
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Demonstration showed the Alexa app when the fire risk was 'medium'
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Our persona 'Adament Albert' would be running through it
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Prototype was done through Adobe Xd and then handed off to the developers
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From the demonstration, Amazon's developer evangelist reached out to us and requested us to go to market
sources
Across 110 years, most of the people who were killed in bushfires died on just nine days. (2018, December 28). ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-27/bushfire-australia-data-saving-lives/10606144
Bushfire survivors: In their own words. (2009, February 9). ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-02-09/bushfire-survivors-in-their-own-words/288392
Elderly couple confirmed dead in 'catastrophic' NSW bushfires. (11, October 7). The New Daily. https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2019/10/10/rappville-bushfire-couple-dead
Emergency warning for NSW bushfire. (2019, October 19). NewsComAu. https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/emergency-warning-issued-for-bushfire-burning-at-backwater-in-northern-nsw
Gilbert SW, Butry DT Identifying vulnerable populations to death and injuries from residential fires Injury Prevention https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/24/5/358
Preventive measures for fire-related injuries and their risk factors in residential buildings: A systematic review. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6420922/
U.S. fire deaths, fire death rates, and risk of dying in a fire. (2019, August 1). U.S. Fire Administration. https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/fire_death_rates.html