Integrating modern mobile devices in emergency event reporting and notification

Integrating the processes of information gathering, processing and dissemination in emergency and disruption situations still has a number of open issues that often create further dangers or inconvenience. In this paper we describe the architecture and implementation of a system specifically designed to encapsulate the aforementioned processes; its modular and layered structure allows for better integration of new components, information sources and sinks. We show particular interest in utilising today's mobile devices as they are often used by people to report emergency situations to the authorities and can provide enhanced information e.g. exact geographical location; the person reporting is either directly involved in the incident or has witnessed its occurrence. Event information is disseminated to users in the vicinity but they may also opt to receive all events and perform location-based filtering on their device to refrain from providing their own location information.