Fire Rescue Apps for Blackberry
Disasters by Design Project: Fire Rescue Apps for Blackberry
Sponsor: TEEX, Clint Arnett work 979-458-0857 clint.arnett@teexmail.tamu.edu
Faculty Contacts: J. Caverlee, A. Kerne, R. Murphy
The Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) has produced several popular iPhone applications for emergency response professionals; however, many municipalities only issue Blackberries. Research in Motion (RIM), the designer and manufacturer of Blackberry smartphones, has been slow to produce the user-friendly development kits of Apple and Google, thus developers have gotten locked into iPhone and Android and more casual developers don’t have the incentive or CS background to program.
The team is expected to 1) work with TEEX to create the set of requirements for a set of 2-4 apps (based on difficulty), 2) learn about Blackberry development, then design, implement, and test the apps (internally and beta), and 3) present to the TEEX with a well-documented programmer’s manual that will enable a non-team members to make modifications or additions. The team will be provided with Blackberries and any special development kits. The apps are expected to be duplicates of existing TEEX iPhone apps.
This project could lead a summer internship or REU.