Hexagon's Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial

Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division and RapidSOS announced a Digital Alerts solution for enabling firefighters to respond to commercial building fires and emergencies faster and with more accurate data. El Paso County 911 District in Texas is the first to deploy the new solution, bringing more efficient and informed emergency response to their community.   Digital Alerts With Digital Alerts, emergency communication centers (ECCs) receive fire dispatch information from commercial building monitoring centers in real-time, eliminating the need for a phone call.  When a building’s fire panel communicator issues alarm signal data, it is assessed by a central station automation system for accuracy, and a Digital Alert is routed by the RapidSOS Intelligent Safety Platform and received at the ECC by Hexagon’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system.  Reduces response time The new solution delivers critical data to field responders and 911 telecommunicators The Hexagon CAD system automatically creates an incident, bypassing the initial call to a 911 telecommunicator, thus eliminating manual handoffs and reducing response time.  The new solution delivers critical data to field responders and 911 telecommunicators, including triaging the type and severity of the hazard and the location within the building.   Time- and life-saving integrated solution “In a commercial fire, seconds can cost lives,” said Bill Campbell, Senior Vice President of Global Public Safety/North America for Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division. Bill Campbell adds, “Integrating RapidSOS’ groundbreaking Digital Alerts with Hexagon’s CAD system provides a critical head-start that first responders need. El Paso County 911 is the first to deploy this time- and life-saving integrated solution, and we anticipate many more deployments at ECCs across the country.”  Efficient and effective response “RapidSOS created Digital Alerts to reduce response times and the errors that can occur in manual handoffs,” said Karin Marquez, Chief Public Safety Brand Officer at RapidSOS. Karin Marquez adds, “Through this integration, we’re able to deliver the information from the sensor to the monitoring center, then to 911 digitally from end-to-end for an efficient and effective response.”        Public safety “The district is proud to be the first to deploy RapidSOS’ Digital Alerts technology integrated with Hexagon’s CAD system,” said Scott Calderwood, Director of El Paso County 911 District, adding “Any time we can give first responders more time and information heading to an emergency, it’s a win for public safety.”  Hexagon and RapidSOS will be discussing the new technology in an upcoming webinar on March 19, 2024.

A record number of visitors attended the award-winning Emergency Services Show at the NEC on 21 and 22 September, 2022. The UK’s event for the emergency services attracted over 10,100 visitors and buyers for the first time in its history, with strong representation from across all the emergency services including police, fire & rescue, ambulance, and search & rescue. The show’s visitors attended a program of over 80 CPD-accredited seminars running in six theatres covering Lessons Learnt, Emerging Technologies, Health & Wellbeing, Future Policing, the College of Paramedics, and, new this year, First Responder which focused on improving collaboration between the emergency services and security industries. The Emergency Services Show 2022 The indoor and outdoor exhibition featured over 450 exhibitors where visitors could source new technology and products from the foremost names in public safety, medical & fire-fighting equipment, vehicles, drones, command & control, satellite & blended communications, search & rescue, extrication, water rescue, CBRNE, first response, protective clothing & uniforms, training, community safety, and station facilities. In the Lessons Learnt Theatre, Dr Iryna Rybinkina, Consultant Cardiothoracic Anaesthetist and CEO of Smart Medical Aid shared her unique insights from operating in a European war zone in Inspiration from the Ukrainian Front Line. For Dr. Rybinkina, the show was like visiting a candy shop. She stated “There are so many interesting new gadgets. I’m really enjoying it. I think it’s very important to get people together in one room so they can keep talking and collaborating on different projects.” Future Policing Theatre What’s really important about these shows is that you see new ideas" Speaking in the Future Policing Theatre, Lord Bernard Hogan Howe, former Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Police, said “What’s really important about these shows is that you see new ideas. If you don’t see the new technology, the new ways of doing things, you carry on doing what you’ve always done and that means you’re trapped in the past. If you can get new technology that really helps you to stop crime, why wouldn’t you?” “We’ve had really in-depth conversations with customers from across all the emergency services, so maritime and coastguard, police, fire. I’ve just had an order for 56 cars,” said Helen Aldred, Public Sector Manager, South, Toyota (GB) PLC. Meeting new clients “What a great show it’s been,” said David Savage, Group Executive Chairman of Excelerate Technology Group, adding “One of the busiest ESS’s for a long time with the right mix of existing customers and new opportunities.”  “It’s a great chance to meet new clients, existing clients, to generate new opportunities, to talk to a large client base, and to have a look at what else is on offer around the show,” said Daniel Abrahams, Applications Engineer, Hexagon. New gear on exhibit Typical of show visitors, Steve Pagett, Fire Fighter at the London Fire Brigade commented: “It’s always interesting to see what new gear is coming in and how it’s going to help the services. Events like this are so important because it gives everyone an idea where the cutting edge is.” The Emergency Services Show returns to Hall 5 at the NEC, Birmingham on 19-20 September 2023. Companies and organizations interested in booking a stand at The Emergency Services Show 2023 should contact: info@emergencyuk.com.

Fire brigades, disaster relief workers and rescue services are facing challenges that did not previously exist in this range. This is because the number of operations and the severity of events are increasing, including severe weather disasters, vegetation fires, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the refugee crisis. These are just a few examples. The main theme of INTERSCHUTZ 2022, ‘Teams, tactics, technology – protection and rescue networked’, sums it up. The world’s leading trade fair for fire brigades, rescue services, civil protection and safety (scheduled to take place from June 20 to June 25, 2022) will become a huge showcase for providers of innovative solutions for the present and future – for example in Hall 16. INTERSCHUTZ 2022 A survey conducted some time ago, as part of a study of 650 participants in fire brigades, aid organizations and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief showed that the emergency services are dissatisfied with the digital development in their organizations. From the point of view of the study participants, comprehensive interfaces for compatible IT systems and hardware were considered necessary. ‘Digital twin’ of hazard prevention INTERSCHUTZ global exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of the many possibilities INTERSCHUTZ global exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of the many possibilities. Stefan Truthän, one of the Managing Directors of the fire protection engineering office - hhpberlin, cites a ‘digital twin’ of hazard prevention, as a spectacular example of digital innovations. “This is not about the state of the fire brigade, but about the state of an entire city,” said Stefan Truthän, adding “This will turn us into a digital filling station, so to speak, where the fire brigade would receive information about the exact condition of a building, for example, during an operation.” The company will be showing what this could look like in practice in Hall 16 at Booth F42, at INTERSCHUTZ 2022. Experience 5G use cases live One of the pre-requisites for such and other plans to become a reality and deliver data in real time is the new 5G mobile communications standard. The topic will occupy a wide space at INTERSCHUTZ. For example, various 5G applications will be demonstrated in hall 16 and on the outdoor area, such as the driving of a special signal vehicle in the city traffic of the future, in which automated vehicles will move in addition to human road users. On the way to a networked fire brigade Digitalization and networking are also major challenges in the further development of leadership support tools and software. Eurocommand, for example, offers an innovative platform with its 5th generation leadership support software – CommandX CX5 – with which the functionalities known on the market are extended to include mobile applications with live data transfer, dashboards, guard display and the integration of drone data. But, networking with each other with different systems is also part of the developments (hall 16/F16). However, digitization also makes other solutions to problems possible. Eurocommand Managing Director, Sascha Pomp, commented “If an operations manager can now monitor and control the room temperature in his own home with his smartphone, why shouldn't he also get information about the water level in the fire engine or where the approaching vehicles are located via intelligent solutions?” Geodata takes on an increasingly key role Esri products are used worldwide to visualize the current COVID-19 situation Geodata is playing an increasingly important role. This was demonstrated not least by the heavy rain disaster last summer in the Ahr Valley. Where they were available, leaders could make faster and more accurate decisions. Additionally, geodata can also be useful regardless of large-scale operations. For example, when deciding on the location of a new fire station, as the company - Esri emphasizes. Esri will show how this can work in Hall 16, at Booth H15, at INTERSCHUTZ 2022. By the way, Esri products are used worldwide to visualize the current COVID-19 situation, including by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Drones as operational support Another topic that is increasingly coming to the fore is drones. The so-called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have already proven to be an important tool in hazard prevention, in many large and small operations. Whether in the exploration of deployment sites, the search for missing persons or the detection of fire nests, with the help of thermal imaging cameras – the application possibilities are manifold and offer scope for innovative ideas. Three examples at INTERSCHUTZ 2022 - The German Rescue Robotics Center (DRZ) will be providing information on robot and drone deployment examples, in Hall 17 at Booth D06. Among other things, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is presenting a project called ‘Live-Lage – Use of drones for the rapid reconnaissance of operational situations’, which was developed together with the Fire Brigade of the German city of Duisburg (Hall 16, E/F/G16). A start-up from Ludwigsfelde in Brandenburg, Germany has completely different ideas. The company - NatureTec is engaged in the development of unmanned cargo drones for fighting forest fires (hall 16/F48). Enhancing communications Digital applications are literally limitless. A few more examples: Hexagon/Intergraf shows digital reality solutions that combine sensor, software and autonomous technologies. For more than 30 years, the company has been equipping the police, fire brigade, rescue services, disaster and plant protection with technologies for operations management and resource allocation (hall 16/G42). Control center technology on exhibit Sinus Nachrichtentechnik will be showcasing control center technology for BOS and industry Sinus Nachrichtentechnik will be showcasing control center technology for BOS and industry, as well as digital alerting, VoIP telecommunications systems, command and control vehicle (ELW) solutions, radio network systems and much more (Hall 16/E15). Swissphone will be showcasing the entire range of comprehensive alerting solutions for a wide variety of industries and a wide variety of tasks – whether for blue light organizations, such as fire brigades, rescue services and the police or for authorities and administrations (Hall 16/A06). Digital networking solutions Digital networking solutions are offered by three other companies that are also closely networked with each other – Divera AI, for example, determines the availability of employees and emergency personnel. Among other things, this involves alerting with feedback function or the planning of personnel availability (Hall 16/E08). rescueTablet presents software right next door (hall 16/ E06) that provides up-to-date information on the situation and location of the operation, maps map material and hydrant plans, provides rescue cards and offers a central solution for required information. And, Status 3 IT (hall 16/E12) offers hardware and software solutions for controlling digital radios in vehicles and radio control panels.