User-Centered Fire Emergency Response System Design for Presenting BIM and IoT Data

Abstract

Advanced technologies, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the Internet of Things (IoT), can supply information for decision-making during a fire emergency. However, the data retrieved fails to cover all the critical knowledge required for situational awareness or fails to present to the users in a usable and effective way. This study aims to develop an effective user interface for a Fire Emergency Response System (FERS) based on BIM and IoT technologies to provide the information required for situational awareness. The study uses the User-Centered Design (UCD) method to achieve this aim and develops the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the FERS based on the identified information requirements. To evaluate the usability of the developed GUI and to finalize the design, the feedback from the experts was retrieved via recordings when they were using the prototype and a combined usability questionnaire of Usability Metric for User Experience (UMUX) and After-Scenario Questionnaire (ASQ). The findings illustrate that the GUI successfully presented the information to meet the user goals and has the potential to significantly improve the efficacy of fire responding operations and minimize the risk of loss of life and property damage.