Francisco Arcediano

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Francisco Arcediano (arcedfr_at_auburn.edu)
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Description of the system   Alabama Law
Enforcement uses the Alabama Uniform Traffic
Crash Report to write crash reports. When an
accident occurs, the Alabama State Troopers
usually fill this report out on the field and,
later on, they complete the report and input it
into the computer back at the Station.   Our
goal is to design a system for the Alabama State
Troopers to use in order to input this data in
such way that eliminates duplicated work and
facilitates the troopers work. Additionally, we
want to make their transition from the paper form
to the digital form as smoothly as possible,
without too many changes and without the need for
learning too many new skills.
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Hardware Specifications   State Troopers will
work with light, rugged, weatherproof touch
screen computers, which are designed to be highly
portable and to be used both on the field and on
a docking station inside the patrol car. When in
the docking station, the computer will recharge
its batteries.   The design of the computer is
symmetrical to allow its use for right- and
left-handed users. When interacting with the
touch screen, State Troopers will use only one
hand, since the assumption is that they will have
anyway only one free hand to operate the touch
screen. The other hand will be holding the
computer when using it on the field, or on the
wheel when driving the car. (Although, in this
presentation, we focus on the Traffic Crash
Report interface, the computer has
functionalities beyond filling crash reports that
could be relevant when driving.) The computer
will have wireless connectivity to transfer
information with any relevant state and national
database through the patrol car. It will use this
connectivity to backup all the information to a
Storage Unit inside the car and to the Stations
Database.
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SW Specifications   The touch screen unit will
run with a modified version of Windows Operative
System specific for touch screens and with
limited usability in order to increase security,
robustness, error-proof software, speed on the
task, and low battery consumption, between many
other features.  
Menu icons (e.g., Login, New, Save, Open, etc.)
and virtual scroll controller could be
personalized by the State Trooper through the
Settings options (after Login not shown in the
presentation). This would allow the user to
organize these resources on the left (for
right-handed users) or the right (for left-handed
users) of the screen. Additionally, their
positioning in the vertical axis can be
personalized. Note that, optimally, the virtual
scroll controller should be positioned in the
lower third of the screen to be accessed and
manipulated with the thumb of the holding hand.
The other menu icons should be positioned on the
top third of the screen to prevent accidental
activations. Use of these icons would require
probably the use of the free hand, or the
alternation of hands.  The wireless transmission
and data collection are always securely
encrypted.
Francisco Arcediano
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Task Scenario   State Trooper Doyle is called to
an accident scene in the conjunction of US-81 and
US-83. A car has crashed into the side of another
car. At the scene, Officer Doyle takes his touch
screen computer and starts introducing the
Location and Time information into the Traffic
Crash Report. He is holding the unit with his
left hand and selecting the cells to be filled
with the fingers of his right hand. Some of the
information is already there since it has been
filled automatically by the information coming
from the Station when he was called to the
accident scene, by the computers clock and
calendar, and by the GPS. He has to check that
the default information is right, and, if it is
not, to change it. To change the information and
to introduce new information, Officer Doyle uses
his fingers to select the pertinent cell, a
virtual keyboard pops up, and the data can be
introduced.   After introducing himself to the
people involved in the accident, Officer Doyle
starts asking to the first driver for the
pertinent information in order to fill up the
report. The order of the cells to be filled is
selected automatically by the system (same order
as in the paper form), but the officer can
override it just by selecting the cell he wants
to modify. Since the computer is connected with a
state and national database through the wireless
connection, many of the cells can be
automatically filled based on previous data. If
these entries are not the right, they can just be
modified by selecting them and introducing the
new information. Similar operations apply to the
collection of information of the second driver.
  Once Officer Doyle is back on his car, he
checks the report again, makes sure everything is
correct and save it. A copy is automatically
delivered to the storage unit of the patrol car
and to the Stations database. When the report
form is stored in the Stations database, it is
automatically printed on paper for traditional
archiving.
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Prototype  
Touch screen computer is off. To turn it on, the
user has to touch any part of the screen for at
least half second.
Since we did not considerer convenient to use the
screen for aesthetic/identity purpose, we decided
to included two icons on the exterior of the
computers to identify them (one for the
Department of Public Safety, and one for the
State Troopers).
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Computer is on. Ready to work with the Alabama
Uniform Crash Report.
Turn Off, Login, Print, Save, Open, and New Menu
Icons.
Virtual Scroll Controller
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The layout of the digital crash report follows
the original layout found on paper. This should
facilitate the transition for the users. They are
already familiar with this layout.
The scroll controller indicates the direction in
which the user can scroll through the report. In
this screen, the user can only go down on the
report.
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Now, the user can scroll up or down through the
report. Note that the three parts of the report
are color code to facilitate their
differentiation.
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The users can make the selection of what cell
want to fill up just by clicking with their
finger in the desired cell.
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The selected cell is maximized to facilitated the
entry of data, and a virtual keyboard pops up on
the lower part of the screen. Thus, the user can
introduce new information and make modifications.
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When an information has been introduced (in this
case the name of the person), the computer
searches in the databases with the pertinent
information for that person, and fills up the
cells with default information (with no boldface
to differentiate actual entries with default
data). If there is more than one default option
for a specific cell, that cell will show an icon
for List Box and clicking on it will let the user
to select the right option or edit a new entry by
means of the virtual keyboard.
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Selecting a Yes, No, N/A question
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All the entries for this interface will follow
the same procedure. Some of the options are just
checked with the fingers, others will be there by
default, and others will have to be selected from
a List Box or to be introduced or changed by
means of the virtual keyboard.
Francisco Arcediano