An interesting challenge to developers, mashup artists, and hackers via the HackForChange competition…
The provided fire incident dataset was provided by the U.S. Fire Administration’s (USFA) National Fire Data Center (NFDC) and extracted from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). NFIRS is a voluntary tool that fire departments use both to report fires and other incidents to which fire departments respond and to maintain records of these incidents in a uniform manner. Because NFIRS is voluntary, it is not a complete count of all fire incidents in the U.S., rather it is roughly 75% of the total. The USFA / NFIRS has two objectives: (1) to help State and local governments develop fire reporting and analysis capability for their own use, and (2) to obtain data that can be used to more accurately assess and subsequently combat the fire problem at a national level.
By making this robust fire incident dataset available, accessible and visual, it will assist local citizens, first responders and local jurisdictions in better understanding the fire problem. This fire data visualization tool can be used to launch safety and prevention campaigns and measures at the local level. This challenge will serve over 1 million volunteer and career firefighters. This data visualization tool will allow local governments and the general public to better understand the major fire issues in their jurisdiction or neighborhood. Fire departments will see the return on investment and use of the data, which will increase data quality and overall data robustness.
Challenge Description
How can we use the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) data and other related pertinent data to increase fire safety and prevention awareness, and potentially improve processes, ultimately reducing fire injuries and fatalities across the nation? Build an online data visualization tool that allows the public and fire departments to view fire incident data summarized by individual and/or multiple zip code.
Functional Specifications
- Use an interactive data visualization tool (GoogleMaps, MapBox, OBIEE, ArcGIS etc. or other open source or proprietary tools) that allows people to enter individual or multiple zip code(s) (Search Capability) and see summarized fire incident data and related information to increase consumption of this robust dataset.
- Produce a static image of graphs and underlying data sources for potential integration into a Drupal Content Management System or data.gov. (Wish list)
- Provide an online data visualization tool that also could be used on a mobile device such as tablets or smartphones including non-flash devices. (Wish list)
- Enable those with screen readers and other access and functional needs to access the data.
- Include links to http://www.usfa.fema.gov/and http://www.ready.gov/firesfor fire prevention and safety tips.
About HackforChange
National Day of Civic Hacking provides opportunities to get people involved in civic hacking, a new form of civic engagement, and many of the events are based on proven models provided by Code for America, Random Hacks of Kindness and Innovation Endeavors. To date, 80 cities in 32 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have events registered. Over 700 individuals have reached out to help organize, support or sponsor an event. The goal is for the National Day of Civic Hacking to take place in all 50 states and associated territories through about 100 events. National Day of Civic Hacking recognizes the importance of civic hackers to our communities and is a call to action for anyone who wants to join the movement. Following the June 1-2 National Day of Civic Hacking, the White House will to recognize the importance of civic hacking by hosting an event to showcase successful hacks from National Day of Civic Hacking.
See details on all the hacks and challenges at http://hackforchange.org/
Source: hackforchange.org via Glenn on Pinterest