Responder is a component of the Redding Incident Management Enhancement (RIME) program, which consists of technology initiatives designed to improve public safety in the Redding area. The Responder prototype system provides a mechanism for collecting, tracking and sharing incident information with at-scene responders, the Redding Traffic Operations Center (TOC) and secondary incident responders, facilitating management of the incident scene and improving the effectiveness of response activities. Responder (Phases I & II) consisted of three components: an Incident Information Collection System, and Incident Support Information System, and Hardware and Communications Infrastructure.

The Phase II prototype system showed promise to increase the efficiency of situation assessments for a variety of purposes including incident management, highway maintenance, emergency medical services and possibly, homeland security applications. Unique features of Responder include the ability for users to capture, annotate and transmit incident images. Location-based weather information, maps and aerial photos are automatically loaded for the user. Ease of use is a key feature of the prototype system and a Tablet PC was used as a mobile data terminal. The goal of this Phase III project is to conduct further research and development to update the Responder prototype system to match current technology which, in turn, will enable further prospective use of the system.

This research effort is jointly funded by Caltrans and the University Transportation Center (UTC) program. This project represents the component funded by Caltrans.