Submitted by Jon Koller

 

The Challenge:

 

We have a lot of fires where I live, it's hard to pinpoint where they actually are, making it harder to fight the fire as it takes longer to get there or to alert the relevant authorities as to where the fire is. This also leads to concern if families/property may be in danger.

 

Potential Solution:

 

An app through which people could take a picture/visual cue of the smoke from multiple points that would together help to accurately identify the fire in real time. Ideally this could be done by two people from two different locations although more data would increase the accuracy.

 

Broader Application:

 

Different layers could allow for different types of visual cueing. For example such an app could be used for political purposes sending signals such as “come stop this foreclosure” or “a crime/ something bad is happening” etc. as well as marketing purposes (e.g. Come it this food) This could make use of different visual cues with different signal types (e.g. smoke, balloons, sound...etc).