Expedition
ALASKA
ABOUT GMT 320
"A project which is approved by the lecturer and in which one or more of the studied techniques of data acquisition and processing are used to produce an output of spatially referenced information. The project must be fully described in a project report."
ABOUT ALASKA
Alaska is an informal settlement located on the eastern outskirts of Mamelodi, a township in Pretoria. The informal settlement expanded around the Non-Governmental organization, The Viva Foundation. The Viva Foundation’s vision is to be instrumental in the transformation of informal settlements, especially Alaska. For the Viva Foundation, safety is a high priority however several factors such as steepness of the terrain, settlement density and the remoteness of the Alaska settlement make it almost impossible for emergency personnel to respond to the emergency calls by from the Alaska community members.
As such, the Viva Foundation spearheaded the South African People’s Response Initiative (SAPRI), which aims to make Alaska a safer community through the provision of panic buttons they can use to call for assistance during emergencies. The already existing system is mainly paper based and provides the settlement dwellers with Panic Button Remotes.
To further their efforts, The Viva Foundation has now joined forces with the University of Pretoria to develop an integrated mobile Panic button that can be used by any member of the community in case of emergency and have a community responder respond to the emergency call as soon as possible. The mobile application will have the added functionality of storing all events in a database, eliminating the problem of a paper-based system.
ABOUT PANIC BUTTON APPLICATION PROJECT
Expedition Alaska will provide two integrated applications that link community members to voluntary trained community members that act as responders.
The User Application will allow a community remember to press a virtual “panic button” in the instance of an emergency. Once this button has been activated an alert is sent to the community responders with GPS coordinates and a responder will travel to the GPS location recorded by the User Application. The Responder application will have a satellite mapping display that will allow the Responder to see where the incident took place and allows them to plan a route there with the image provided.
The Responder is able to update a situation status which will communicate whether an incident is being seen to, has been concluded or is in need of a responder. This information should be able to be viewed on the User’s application.
An incident log is recorded at the conclusion of a community Responder’s visit and this log will update the computer based database that can provide further planning in terms of community health and safety.
A poster is required to be displayed in each dwelling or business that is a part of the panic button initiative. When questioned as to the usefulness of the posters, during a field visit to Alaska, residents stated their reasoning as to that the posters are what deterred the crime from taking place within their homes. The deterrence effect of these posters is vital to the health and safety of the community and must thus be provided free of cost to users as a part of a community effort.
ABOUT THE VIVA FOUNDATION
"THE VIVA FOUNDATION’S STRATEGY IS TO EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS A COMMUNITY’S FELT AND EXPRESSED NEEDS BY CREATING A SECURE HUB WITHIN AN INFORMAL SETTLEMENT AND BASE IT ON FAMILIAR TRADITIONAL VALUES, NAMELY THE ‘VILLAGE’ CONCEPT.
The organisation is duly registered as a Non-Profit- and Public Benefit Organisation and has proven itself within the charities sector as a social enterprise with an above average, doable and effective strategy for service delivery. The organisation has a working model and an excellent combination of managerial accountability, administrational excellence and on-the-ground operations with a very high buy-in from its beneficiaries and benefactors alike."