B-APCO 2016: Bringing data to the dispatcher

Mike Isherwood, sales and marketing director at APD, speaking at the B-APCO Show on the future of control rooms

Meeting the needs of today’s control room operators and dispatchers is a little like serving porridge to Goldilocks. While such a chef has to make sure the porridge is neither too hot nor too cold, so the manufacturers of control room equipment have to strike a balance between serving the dispatcher with as much useful information as possible and making sure that it doesn’t slow down their decision-making.

This balancing act is becoming more and more relevant, as we are living through huge changes in the way data is delivered to the people making life or death decisions and the amount of information that can be supplied to them. This is because of two key factors: the rise of the Internet of Things and the growing use of body-worn video. Part of this is tied up in the idea of the smart city: one in which sensors continually feed back data on traffic flows, incidents and dozens of other metrics to make their inhabitants’ lives easier, healthier and safer.