“Where in the world is this person!?”
With the dawn of wi-fi calling, police dispatchers are finding it increasingly difficult to locate people who dial 911. All Dartmouth employees can now use wi-fi to make phone calls, but these call usually have incorrect locations. Police officers, who heavily rely on location data to find callers in need, waste precious time.
Partnering with Dartmouth’s IT department, my DALI team created a web app to relay wireless location data to Hanover’s police department.
1. User research
2. Usability testing
3. Design systems
4. Dark mode
All Dartmouth employees can now use wi-fi to make phone calls. However, most 911 calls that are made over the internet have incorrect locations. Police officers, who heavily rely on location data to find callers in need, waste precious time.
Luckily, Dartmouth's IT department has installed new technology to locate wi-fi calls placed in Dartmouth's campus. They have asked my DALI team to create a fast and reliable web app to relay these locations to the Hanover police.
For the first two weeks, Geo, Lylia and I interviewed Dartmouth ITC, Dartmouth Department of Safety and Security (DoSS), and Hanover's Police Department.
We learned about the police's current tools, Active 911 and RapidSOS. These softwares help police officers communicate with dispatchers and locate callers who use signal or data. Jive, the wi-fi calling software used at Dartmouth, relays the caller's home or office address, not the caller's immediate location.
We talked to dispatchers and officers to get a better sense of their pain points. Since this project took place in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of our calls were on zoom or phone. Geo and I, however, got to visit an officer in person and check out the interior of his police car!
The end user became clear: we were designing for none other than Hanover’s police dispatchers. The goal was not to overhaul the police’s dispatch system but to come alongside their current process. Our product needs to be fast, reliable, and simple.
With a better understanding of the dispatch process, we made some rapid prototypes and brought them to our users. Based on the feedback, I made three key design choices.
This website presents a dense amount of information, so I found it important to use color strategically. Taking inspiration from Google’s design system, Material, I varied the text color by hierarchy of importance. Furthermore I used the blue primary color sparingly to highlight action items.
After three hours have passed, new cases will be automatically archived. This feature aligns with the police dispatcher’s busy routine.
At first, we chose notification sounds that were subtle and pleasing to listen to. However, during a usability test, the dispatcher asked us to make our notification sound as loud and obnoxious as possible. Because the dispatchers work in high-intensity emergency situations, they cannot afford to miss a notification.
-1.png)
.png)
