RimSim

The mission of the RimSim project is to provide a simulation engine for studying distributed cognition and collaboration and for evaluating interface technology for safety and security response planning and training. RimSim is designed to integrate relevant critical infrastructure data and interaction methods into a role-playing testbed for synchronous and asychronous collaboration during simulated emergency scenarios. The system incorporates findings and algorithms from PARVAC's GOSR modeling research and from the JITC3 system to support participation by both first responders and command personnel.

RimSim is intended for use by both the distributed cognition research community and the emergency response community. Response community users will be able to experience simulated events from a variety of role viewpoints, thus gaining a better sense of all activities. Analysis of scenario play over time may also help refine agency missions and procedures.

RimSim integrates the Java World Wind alpha community release to provide a whole Earth, drill-down visualization. Java World Wind provides a clean application programming interface to OpenGL through the JOGL open source community. In collaboration with colleagues at the Northeastern RVAC (NEVAC) we are developing a new data model for representing Seattle emergency response scenarios, drawing from a variety of existing real data sets (buildings, streets, traffic lights, hospital locations, etc.), as well as synthetic data sets that describe a hypothetical population of persons and vehicles and their movements over time.

Current RimSim research is aimed at establishing methods for incorporating a variety of public safety and security incident scenarios, embodying response functions into simulated agents for more flexible team play, and evaluating interface options and communication methods.

Benefits

Port-related threats and natural threats, such as volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes and diseases, are common to communities around the Pacific Rim, and yet do not occur often enough to provide adequate opportunities for first responders and incident commanders to gain experience in understanding and refining their roles during crises.

The RimSim project provides a simulation environment for studying distributed cognition and collaboration among response partners and for evaluating interface technologies for safety and security response planning and training.

RimSim Views: RimSim incorporates both a scalable Java World Wind view of an emerging simulated incident (with colors representing critical resource sources and sinks) and an Improvise-based view of the ongoing user interactions. In this example the map labels critical infrastructure and facility locations using scalable icons from the Homeland Security Working Group Symbology Reference. A water level slider colors buildings in blue to simulate flooding. A bar chart shows aggregate statistics for the health and mobility status of people and vehicles over selected zones. Communications among five key players are shown as a graph and over time.

Collaborators

• Pacific Rim Visualization and Analytics Center (PARVAC)
• Northeastern Visualization and Analytics Center (NEVAC)
• UW Medical Center