The city’s SF Heroes application includes quizzes and checklists users can complete to earn points and badges as they become more prepared. The completed actions yield tangible benefits such as a family emergency plan or an emergency contact list users can access offline in case of an emergency. Progress through the game can also be shared with friends through Facebook and Twitter to encourage competition.
“We feel like this is something that is a new tool for us to try and reach more people who it may appeal to who are already tech-savvy who have their iPhone,” said Laura Adleman, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. “That may get them thinking about getting prepared.”
Other components of the app include a map containing the locations of key emergency resources such as emergency drinking water hydrants, hospitals, animal care facilities, preparedness events and tsunami evacuation sites, as well as the ability to check in to locations. “For example, the Great ShakeOut is [Thursday, Oct. 20],” said Carla Riggi, founder of CosmiCube, the developer of SF Heroes. “So they’ve got an event in the app that is the Great ShakeOut telling people to go drop, cover and hold on.”
The city paid CosmiCube $25,000 to develop the app. Adleman noted that a traditional advertising campaign that places ads on the city’s busses and bus shelters could cost as much as $100,000. “Ultimately the impact of those is unknown other than maybe tracking your hits on your website or something like that,” she said.
The application can be downloaded free from Apple’s iTunes App Store. Adleman said users will have to provide a user name and possibly an e-mail address to use the app, but the city does not have plans to collect or track information through the application at this time.
An Android version of the app is slated for release in spring 2012.
