Spring / Printemps 2017 13 Wireless Netwrok First Responder Mobile Application Web Application Web Application Database information. Third, emergency responders follow very specific standard operational procedures and response protocols. Fourth, emergency responders have lim- ited financial resources. When they invest in a new technology, they are very conscious of the resulting Return on Investment (ROI). These differences are naturally reflected in terms of attributes for mobile applica- tions. In the following, we high- light the main attributes. III.1 ROI A mobile application has to address a current need, solve a problem, or enhance the perform- ance of emergency responders with a measurable and significant ROI. III.2 OPERATIONAL COMPATIBILITY A mobile application has to blend with, or cause minimal change to, existing operational procedures and protocols. For instance, emer- gency responders often work in groups with close collaboration between field officers, dispatch, and the main office. Accordingly, the mobile application has to allow for seamless exchange of information between these three groups to guarantee uniformity of information sharing. III.3 CYBERSECURITY This is probably one of the most critical attributes. The sensitivity of the information that emergency responders use make it an attract- ive target for cyberattacks. Hence, mobile applications have to be secure by design. This includes Second, there is a lack of uni- fied information sharing proto- cols between different sources of dynamic information and the emergency responders [14]. While static information is cur- rently the dominant type of information available to emer- gency responders, it is expected that dynamic information will become equally dominant—if not the dominant—as the Smart Grid, Smart City, Internet of Things (IoT), and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) become realities [15]. II.3 INFERRED OR CALCULATED INFORMATION Unlike the previous two types, this type comes out of analytical and predictive models. These models digest static and dynamic information and give emergency responders accurate analysis and predictions of the ongoing emer- gency. For instance, a model might use some social media feeds about a multivehicle acci- dent along with traffic informa- tion in that particular part of a city to give law-enforcement personnel the best course of action in terms of road closures and traffic rerouting. Limited instances of this type of information are available these days. For instance, emer- gency responders can use data analytics to digest social media feeds related to a certain emer- gency without reading every post. However, it is predicted that the increase in the volumes of static and dynamic informa- tion that emergency responders have access to will stimulate interest in inferred or calculated information [16]. III. Desired Attributes of Mobile Applications The emergency responders mar- ket is fundamentally different from the consumers market for many reasons. First, emergency responders work in teams with a strong sense of hierarchy and accountability. Second, emer- gency responders deal with a lot of private and sensitive user authentication, data encryp- tion, and secure storage. III.4 ACCOUNTABILITY The information provided by a mobile application is likely to guide the decision-making process of emergency respond- ers. Hence, an access log has to be maintained for each user along with time and location. In case of accessing information over the Internet, the log has to include whether information was successfully received or not. III.5 PLATFORM AND NETWORK NEUTRAL As the public safety sector is embracing smart mobile tech- nology, it is consciously align- ing itself (to a large degree) with the consumers market to leverage economies of scale. This was most apparent when Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology was used to build the upcoming Public Safety Broadband Network(PSBN) [17]. Accordingly, any mobile applica- tion is expected to be agnostic to the wireless technology (LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, etc.), device hard- ware, and operating system. III.6 SCALABILITY Every emergency is unique, and the number of responders needed at an emergency scene is unpredictable. Some major incidents draw responders from different jurisdictions. Hence, a mobile application should be able to guarantee a constant level of service regardless of the num- ber of served responders. III.7 UNIFORMITY OF PRESENTATION Operational integrity of emer- gency responders requires that all members of a response team have access to the same amount of information using the same pres- entation. The reason behind this is the dynamic and unpredictable nature of emergency response. Different responders might do different things in different situa- tions. Hence, guaranteeing deliv- ery of the right information to the right person requires using the same presentation to all team members. III.8 BILINGUALISM The mobile application should account for situations where emergency responders use more than one language. This can be encountered, for instance, near the borders of Quebec. In this case, the mobile application needs to support all used languages. III.9 INTUITIVE/USER FRIENDLY This is a very important design challenge for mobile applications. Emergency responders come from different backgrounds, with different levels of education, and different levels of comfort with mobile technology. Furthermore, emergency management tends to be a fast-paced profession where responders have very limited time to use a mobile application. Accordingly, the mobile applica- tion has to be intuitively designed. Users need to find information in the most likely places and with the least number of steps. Figure 2: Building Tactical Information System (BTIS) For instance, a model might use some social media feeds about a multivehicle accident along with traffic information in that particular part of a city to give law-enforcement personnel the best course of action in terms of road closures and traffic rerouting.