Hazards Near Me NSW 4+

Every other app I can think of that posts notifications along with a badge on the app icon CLEARS the badge on app launch. I can't think of any other example where the user is put to the trouble of (1) launch the app, (2) tap "My notifications" before the silly thing deigns to clear the badge. Why can't you adopt best practice???!!!

Also, I'm getting very tired of this pattern: receive a notification, tap the notification, the app opens, the app chucks up a "no network connection" alert, I dismiss the alert, the app shows me the map containing the event location. So, what you're asking me to believe is the iPad disconnected from Wifi in between the time it received the notification and launched the app. Well, (a) other apps running on the iPad, (b) the connection log on the Wifi mesh hubs and (c) the logs on the FTTP-connected router all beg to differ. This is just a crappy implementation which you need to fix.

I think this app provides an excellent service to people living in, or travelling to, bushfire prone areas. However, living in an area that is currently threatened by bushfires, I have a major suggestion that would help improve the service a lot. The update frequency has been good as the fires developed over the last few days, but the information given on each report has been exactly the same for each threat level even though the fire has clearly grown and moved substantially in that time period. If you are going to provide people with this sort of information they are going to want to be able to rely on its accuracy. The information given (locations and size of the fires burning) should be as accurate as possible to allow people to visually understand the level of threat posed to them so they can make informed decisions about evacuation. I think the RFS are doing an amazing job on all fronts in trying to contain the catastrophe we are currently experiencing, this is simply a tiny bit of constructive criticism that could help save more lives and homes in the future.

This is a great app and hats off to the team responsible for this, especially during the big fires in NSW the latter parts of 2019. Some suggestions to improve the usefulness even more could be:

1. Allow the user to go back and review historical fire front overlays on the map. That way we can see where it’s moved in the past day, past week etc... and therefore see what’s changed over time, like when viewing rain radar information on any weather app. Some sort of slider bar would do the trick when in map mode. At present I have to remember where it was yesterday and try and compare that to what it looks like today.

2. Enhance the map view by (if possible) showing where the active fire fronts are in a different colour. The big fires of 2019 had enormous coverings of grey to indicate its size, but this doesn’t distinguish between where it’s burning now and where it may have been extinguished along its perimeter. For now we have to assume if it’s not moving then it’s been successfully dealt with.

3. Enhance the watch zones with circular rings instead of just a semi transparent circle indicating - say - each kilometre away from your watch zone point. This combined with point 2 above would help tell the story for the user as to how fast it is approaching, and how far away it is now. That, or a ruler would help.

These are just suggestions to make this already great and valuable app, even greater.

Thanks guys. PC