Mobile decision support in emergency situations

Acute emergency situations are characterised by high levels of uncertainty combined with a need for fast and reliable action. Whether the emergency situation is a fire in an industrial plant, a road accident involving dangerous goods or a terrorist attack on an underground train, the operative rescue work will involve several public and private actors in need of access to a wide range of information. In the on-site context of emergency situations, it is of utmost importance for the operational leader to h ave easy and immediate access to all critical information, as well as decision making support for efficient handling of complex scenarios. This implies two interrelated challenges: 1) Establishment of critical information and scenario-based decision suppo rt prior to the emergency situation. 2) Development of solutions for efficient on-site access to information and decision support. The first challenge requires cross-sector information collection, and knowledge development. The second challenge requires c ross-sector distribution and utilisation of necessary information as well as implementation of premeditated plans from scenarios. Fast and reliable action in the context of an emergency situation requires immediate and easy access to knowledge and inform ation, but also the development and maintenance of this knowledge and information prior to the emergency situation. The aim of the project is to integrate methods and tools to develop and maintain necessary knowledge and information with methods and tools to make the same information available to emergency operation leaders in the field. Therefore, the research problem of is formulated as two interrelated research questions: 1) How to establish sufficient and valid information and knowledge, necessary for operative leaders in defined categories of emergency situations? 2) How to make the established knowledge and information available to the operative leaders in the field in an efficient and robust manner?