30 to 120 second decrease in time for incident data to be entered with CAD-TMC integration.

CAD System Integration with TMC in Utah

Date Posted
04/29/2014
Identifier
2014-B00906
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Computer-Aided Dispatch – Traffic Management Center Field Operational Test: State of Utah Final Report.

Summary Information

The Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) - Traffic Management Center (TMC) Integration Field Operations Test in Utah report provides details about the integration of the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP), the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), the Salt Lake City Fire and Police Departments, the Utah Transit Authority (UTA), and the Valley Emergency Communications Center (VECC) information systems to enable the real-time exchange of incident data. The FOT was designed to demonstrate how the integration of CAD and TMC systems can improve incident response capabilities and how institutional barriers can be overcome. Through the CAD-TMC system, an integrated transportation and public safety incident management information network was developed and implemented for enhanced information-sharing capabilities between multiple incident management response agencies across multiple jurisdictions.

The report presents a results summary regarding the system performance and system impact during the FOTs. Institutional and technical challenges were also assessed; however, they are completely qualitative in nature. The quantitative system performance benefits are found below, other findings can be found in the full report.

FINDINGS

In interviews with UDOT operators, estimates of up to 1 or 2 minutes in time saved to get the incident entered and located were reported. This improvement was recognized as a two-fold time savings factor. First, some of the incident fields were populated from information from the partner agency. Operators estimated a 10 to 50 second improvement because of fields automatically being populated. The second factor is that the system can carry geo-location information so the incident can be located automatically rather than being placed at the proper location by the operator. The operators had estimated that between 1 to 2 minutes in time savings were realized because of the automatic placement of incidents.

Limited observations showed about a 5 to 10 second savings in time to enter incident data on incidents reported by VECC. VECC had limited data brought into the system, however; only incident type and location are transmitted by the VECC system. From observations made before the integrated system was implemented, normal incidents took from 50 to 120 seconds to populate and place. In the after observations, it took about 15 seconds to fill in the empty fields from VECC incidents. With automatic placement of incidents, the process is considered complete as soon as the empty fields are populated and the operator "declares" or enters the incident. The observations showed a time savings of roughly 35 to 105 seconds, relatively close to the operator estimates. (It should be noted that the observations, both before and after, were on relatively quiet days with few incidents and no major incidents. It is easy to see where greater time savings could occur on busier days.)
  • From observations and interviews, some TMC incident response procedures were improved. The time to enter an incident discovered by a participating agency into the UDOT incident management system was reduced by as little as 30 seconds to as much as nearly 2 minutes. The accuracy of the information in the incident record was improved because information from the partner CAD systems is imported directly into the UDOT incident management system reducing the chance of making an error if the operator was to enter the data manually.
  • Geo-location data passed with the incident reduces the chance that the incident will be placed in the wrong location.
  • The number of incidents included in the incident reporting system increased dramatically nearly 5 times the number of incidents were included per month after the integrated system was implemented.
  • From observations and interviews, the integrated system reduces the reliance on manual methods for exchanging information. Partner agency incidents are automatically brought into UDOT system. The integration system reduced operator reliance on listening to scanners.
  • From observations and interviews, integration increased the extent and reliability of information exchanges. Information is passed from other agencies directly from the CAD systems so conversations are only needed to clarify information.