Twitter SMS Text Messaging Testing

  Sunday, August 2nd 2009

I have finally pushed the finished and refined code to the Rip and Run server - and I am happy to say that so far the Twitter text messaging is working perfectly, and I'm anxious to get other GFD people to sign up for this service.

I've posted about the Twitter concept in the past, but to sum it up quickly - it provides a free and simple way for our firefighters to receive SMS text messages on our cell phones notifying them of a given emergency. This has become somewhat of a pressing issue, considering the deficiencies in the county radio system.

The process to enroll is pretty painless. To "sign up" to receive SMS text messages for Rip and Run updates, follow these steps:

1. You will need to create a "Twitter" account to recieve text messages.

   Note that you do not actually need to "use" your Twitter account, this can be a simple "placeholder" account that you create only to use for the purposes of Rip and Run.
   
   If you do have a personal Twitter account that you use regularly, and you do enable it to receive Rip and Run SMS updates, you will receive SMS text messages from other Twitter people you are "following". It is for this reason that I suggest you setup another separate Twitter account just to receive GFD Rip and Runs.

   For example, you could create an account named "mafd123" if your membeship ID was "123" and then follow the steps to enable your cell phone to receive SMS text messages, described in the next step.
2. You can enable SMS messaging in Twitter by accessing your account settings.
   
   The "Settings" menu can be accessed by clicking on the "Settings" link in the upper right hand corner of your profile once you log into your Twitter account.
   
   From the "Settings" menu, go to the "Devices" tab (third from the left) and you can then enter your mobile phone number.
   
   Click the "It's okay for Twitter to send txt messages to my phone" check box (to give Twitter permission to send SMS messages to your phone, and then click the "save" button
3. Visit the "Greenfield Fire District Rip and Run" Twitter account online at:
   
   http://Twitter.com/greenfieldfd
   
   And ask to be added as a "follower" of "greenfieldfd". Basically a "follower" in the Twitter system is just a phrase to denote that you want to be "notified" of any updates of a particular user - in this case, you are asking to be notified via SMS text messages of any updates to the greenfieldfd user - which will occur every time a Rip and Run fax is sent.
4. Once the administrator of the twitter account (me), accepts you as a "follower" - you will still need to select "to receive SMS each time follower updates" in order to receive text messages from the greenfieldfd account.
5. One last step, and this is a suggestion, is to add the number "40404" to your address book as "Rip and Run" - as this is the SMS number that Twitter sends the messages from. This way, you'll know when you get a new text, who its from and not to disregard it.

One final note, remember that these text messages are sent when we receive faxes from the county Rip and Run system. If we get dispatched to a call, and receive the fax 20 minutes later - then you won't receive the text message until 20 minutes after the call. You can judge this for yourself by reading the TOC included in the text message - it will clue you into the time difference.

Here are a few example text messages that you will see:

Alarm for Maple Avenue. P1B TRAUMATIC INJURY at GAVIN PARK. TOC 0926. Run number 062694

Alarm for Maple Avenue. P1C CHEST PAIN at BON TON. TOC 1201. Run number 073635

Alarm for Maple Avenue. STRUCTURE FIRE at 32 LADY SLIPPER LANE. TOC 1029. Run number 076732

Alarm for Maple Avenue. MVA at NORTHERN PINES AND ROUTE 9. TOC 1826. Run number 071479

A few notes about the examples above:

1. The priority of the medical call is provided before the call type (CHEST PAIN, etc.). Sometimes this information is not included in the dispatch Rip and Run, and if its not provided by county dispatchers, then it will not be provided in the text message.
   
   The call priorities are abbreviated to three character abbreviations. The given priority abbreviations are listed here:
   1. P2A: a "priority two alpha" call
   2. P1B: a "priority one bravo" call
   3. P1C: a "priority one charlie" call
   4. P1D: a "priority one delta" call
   5. P1E: a "priority one echo" call
   6. P3: a "priority three standby" call
2. If the location field of the Rip and Run is specified, then it will be used - and not the address. Otherwise, just the street address is used in the text message.
3. Subsequent text messages will be truncated and only provide "updates" to the call - so it will only contain enroute, onscene, and inservice times. This is why the run number is included in the text message, so you can follow the call progress.
4. This system is configured not to sent text messages for a call that is 1 hour old (this is a configurable parameter) - the idea being that there's no reason to send texts to someone's phone about a call that is an hour old - this includes call updates described above.
5. Naturally, the company text will change depending on which company the call is for - once we enable the system for the other GFD sister companies. Note that you will receive text messages for all companies, not just your own if you enroll in this service.

Remember - this is a system to complement the county pager system, not replace it.

As always, any questions regarding this setup, can be forwarded to Richard Spackmann via email at RichardSpackmann@greenfieldfd.org

posted by spackmann in Rip and Run Development at 6:33 PM (401 day(s) old)  Permalink