News & Press Releases
Please contact
for all media enquiries.
NICTA teams with Locatrix Communications to bring next generation technologies to emergency services |
| Apr 01 2008 |
NICTA teams with Locatrix Communications to bring next generation technologies to emergency services
About NICTA National ICT Australia Limited (NICTA) is a national research institute with a charter to build Australia’s pre-eminent Centre of Excellence for information and communications technology (ICT). NICTA is building capabilities in ICT research, research training and commercialisation in the ICT sector for the generation of national benefit. NICTA is funded by the Australian Government as represented by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Australian Research Council through the ICT Centre of Excellence program. NICTA was established and is supported by its members: The Australian Capital Territory Government; The Australian National University; NSW Department of State and Regional Development; and The University of New South Wales. NICTA is also supported by its partners: the University of Sydney; University of Melbourne; the Victorian Government; the Queensland Government; Griffith University; Queensland University of Technology; and The University of Queensland. For further information: Kelly Mills, Communications Specialist, NICTA Ph: 02 8374 5489 or 0448 434 858
NICTA, Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence has teamed with the Queensland Department of Emergency Services and a Brisbane ICT company to develop tools which will help emergency services agencies obtain timely information about unfolding situations.
NICTA’s Smart Applications for Emergencies (SAFE) project, based at NICTA’s Queensland Research Laboratory, is developing applications and tools to enable the capture and presentation of vital information about emergency situations, ranging from events such as devastating floods and cyclones to incidents like car accidents and fires.
NICTA has teamed with Brisbane company Locatrix Communications in its quest to provide real-time situational awareness information for emergency rescue operations.
"Getting information about unfolding emergency situations to the right people at the right time is of critical importance for emergency services agencies," Queensland Department of Emergency Services, Executive Manager, Business Strategy Projects Nick Moss said.
"It is important that personnel in local, regional and state operations and coordination centres can quickly form a picture of what is happening in the field. Such information provides situational awareness and can improve response time and effectiveness in emergency rescue operations and can also improve safety of the crew members."
Locatrix Communications is an innovator in location-based services. Its location services can be used by mobile and distributed enterprises to manage and locate their assets and personnel. The services are also used for mobile social networking.
"We value our cooperation with NICTA as it provides us with an opportunity to contribute to the development of applications supporting emergency services and also gives us insight into the research that can have an impact on our future direction," Locatrix Communications founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark White said.
One of NICTA’s strategic aims is to collaborate with local technology companies to nurture the Australian ICT industry. The relationship with Locatrix Communications will help build the mobile services industry in Brisbane and elsewhere in Australia.
"Right now we’re seeing that the market is ready for other location-based services, such as mobile social networking and location-sensitive advertising," NICTA SAFE Networks Project Leader, University of Queensland ITEE Professor Jadwiga Indulska said.
"But in the not too distant future we’ll begin to see mobile computing applications that draw on a much wider range of information than location alone, and that will herald the age of ubiquitous, or pervasive, computing.
"Researchers in the field of ubiquitous computing generally refer to this wider range of data as ‘context information’, and it can include anything from location, to temperature readings to the level of pollution in the air."
Prof Indulska said the development of this sort of technology will help revolutionise how emergency services organisations can respond to events as they are unfolding.
Back