100,000 soldiers and police are monitoring the month-long European soccer championship Euro 2016 that kicked off on Friday. However with last year’s Paris terror attacks and the current turmoil that’s taking over the country’s streets, the government has turned security up a notch by introducing a new app. The smartphone software, named SAIP, translated as ‘Population Alert and Information System’ is now available for the public to download from the Apple Store and Google Play.
Created by app developer Deveryware, the features within are pretty simple, which is what an app of this nature requires; it sends a push notification, as notes on the official statement, “in the event of a suspected terror attack or exceptional circumstances that could lead to an attack.”
Available in both French and English, if the user is geolocated in the danger zone, a green banner indicates there are no reported incidents and a red banner means an event is underway. The notifications are made in silence to ensure the potential hostage doesn’t make the attacker aware of a user’s presence. In the case of an emergency, the app also offers advice as to how to proceed, updates in real time and there’s also options to share the information on social media to widen the event’s reach. For the app to work, it has to be open on the phone, however the designers have reassured it doesn’t take up too much battery life.
As well as terror attacks, SAIP can be used in other critical situations that have the potential to affect large groups of people. For example if there’s disaster at a nuclear site or a dam, or in circumstances involving “dangerous chemicals.” There are also plans to execute features to help protect the nation in cases of avalanches and floods by the fall.
If France’s SAIP app is successful in saving lives and reducing damage in such dangerous and now too frequent situations, expect to see the app roll out to more country’s all over the world very soon.
This article was written by Lara Piras from PSFK and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
