JIXEL
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JIXEL is a suite of a web based applications, that allows emergency services (fire and rescue, ambulances, police, civil protection) to seamlessly exchange information during day by day operations and when managing catastrophic events and their aftermath.
Speed, coordination and transfer of information across Emergency Services are key in providing effective reaction and response to an incident. Having a common view on what is really going on makes the difference in managing day-by-day incidents or large events that may rapidly require the involvement of several rescue teams. Control rooms need to work in combination and often to cooperate on the same events. Control rooms managing emergency services with different specialisation (e.g. fire and rescue or ambulances) and/or covering different geographical areas need to (i) have available a common dataset, (ii) rapidly interoperate on it and (iii) share a collaborative view on the same geography.
JIXEL Novelties
JIXEL has implemented a novel methodology that allows control rooms to seamlessly share data in electronic format. These data include the incident location, type, urgency, and severity, along with brief information on the resources dispatched for a specific incident. Attachments (e.g. pictures) can also be included in the exchanged messages. The results is a peered collaborative map.
JIXEL uses the CAP Protocol
JIXEL is fully compliant with the interoperability standard adopted by the Italian National Fire Department (Ministry of Interior) with the Decree dated 17 June 2008. This decree is based on the use of the CAP protocol. JIXEL makes full use of the CAP protocol.
JIXEL Components
- The JIXEL CAPGenerator is a Web interface that allows users to create and share information. By using it, it is possible to assign a geographical coordinate (lat/lon) to a CAP message (from now on a jixel) and add many other information (e.g. incident of feature description resource, attachments). Once created, the jixel is ready to be handled by the CAPRouter.
- The JIXEL CAPRouter is a web service that distributes jixel to the partner organizations they are targeted to. Users can configure the recipients of a specific jixel according to its features and based on this the CAPRouter creates a dedicated, secure and encrypted jixel feed for each of them. Such jixel feeds can be textually displayed using a standard browser or on a map running the last JIXEL component: the CAPViewer.
- The JIXEL CAPViewer is able to display, filter and group on a geographical interface the jixels distributed by the CAPRouter. Similarly to the CAPGenerator it uses Google Maps to show the features on a map.
JIXEL for the L’Aquila Earthquake
A recent application of Jixel is the exchange of information between Search and Rescue (SAR) teams in Abruzzo (Italy). On 6th April 2009, an earthquake stroke, killing 299 people and damaging or destroying thousands of houses and buildings. Immediately after the disaster occurred, SAR teams started to gather in the area and activities were coordinated by the Italian Civil Protection. As usual, SAR teams from Italian “Vigili del Fuoco” (CNVVF) have been heavily involved, with 2300 firemen and 116 teams operating on a large area and organised in a central headquarter and 7 local headquarters.More >
JIXEL for forest fires >
Jixel has been used to manage fires in Calabria region. The application has been customized for local emergency services needs (Vigili Del Fuoco, Corpo Forestale dello Stato, Protezione Civile), taking into account the specific organizational structure.More >>