Embedded Files
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The problem space
The problem space
The Smart City Suite is a city-scale IoT platform used in command centres to monitor and operate urban services such as waste management, irrigation, street lighting, etc.
While the platform positioned itself as a unified city operations layer, it lacked an emergency response capability. Emergency services continued to operate on separate systems, limiting visibility, coordination, and use of city data during incidents.
This gap surfaced repeatedly through customer conversations, RFPs, and ongoing deployments.
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Opportunity
Opportunity
Define and design an emergency response module partnering with an existing City Suite customer. Designing the module as a native extension of the existing product
I worked on defining and designing an emergency response module as a native extension of the Smart City Suite.
An existing customer was actively exploring a centralized emergency response solution. We, especially the UX function led by me, partnered with them to co-develop and pilot the module in a live city environment, ensuring the solution was productized rather than bespoke.
The goal was to close a known gap in the suite while expanding it into safety-critical city operations.
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Solution
Solution
I designed a two-part, tightly integrated solution
Emergency Responder Companion App
a field-first mobile app supporting:
Incident context and navigation
Real-time situational awareness
Communication with dispatch
Dispatcher Interface
an interface embedded into the Smart City command center for:
Incident intake and triage
Resource assignment and tracking
Live coordination with responders
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Process
Process
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Product Definition Pillars
Product Definition Pillars
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Fits naturally within the Smart City Suite architecture
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Differentiates from standalone emergency systems
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Solves real emergency response problems
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Discovery & Alignment
Discovery & Alignment
I planned and facilitated structured discovery sessions with product, engineering, SMEs, and customer stakeholders.
Key Activities
• Domain grounding and workflow walkthroughs
• Stakeholder and persona mapping
• Studied live dispatcher environments and command centres
• Researched first responder environments and constraints
• Identification of pain-point for dispatchers and responders
• Journey mapping
• Solution ideation and prioritization
• Help define value proposition
• Product-in-a-box exercise
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Design
Design
Design principles
⛑️
Field-resistant and PPE-friendly interactions
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Prioritise situational awareness
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Reduced cognitive load under stress
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Faster decision-making over feature clutter
Key Activities
• User story definition across responder and dispatcher journeys
• Rapid prototyping of critical workflows
• Continuous collaboration with SMEs for domain accuracy
• Iterative refinement based on usability testing field feedback
• Storyboarding
• Identified device, hardware and PPE limitations
• Refining value proposition & Product-in-a-box artefacts
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Validation and Refinement
Validation and Refinement
I conducted usability testing with dispatchers and responders. The insights from the study directly shaped layouts, flows and interaction patterns.
Key learnings
Information had to be contextual and prioritised, not exhaustive
Responders needed glanceable confidence-building cues
Reducing tool-switching delivered more value than adding features
Responders won’t go through all the information present, it had to be curated – basically wait for them to ask for it or direct them what to look. Eg BIM info, pre-planning document
The app offering was altered to mainly aid in activities related to incident briefing and planning, and reporting; intentionally reducing focus from ‘incident-response’ phase
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Outcome
Outcome
It's now one of the USPs of the City Suite. Strengthened positioning in emergency-focused city RFPs
Pilot live at one of our key customer site
2 active inquiries in advanced stages
The work contributed to patent filings covering key aspects of the emergency response solution
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