1. Indiana BeachesAlert Beach Notification System for Mobile Devices Thomas W. Easterly Commissioner Indiana Department of Environmental Management ECOS Innovations Award – September 25, 2011

2. Indiana BeachesAlert Mobile application allowing beachgoers to check the status of favorite beaches from any Web- enabled cell phone or mobile device Shows “real-time” information throughout the beach season Allows beachgoers to subscribe to e-mail or text alerts about particular beaches

3. Indiana BeachesAlert GPS-enabled phones automatically show nearby beaches Integrates mobile, Web and on- site (QR Code Tagging) technologies for multiple information routes on various devices Uses HTML 5 web coding for universal mobile device access (iPhone, Droid, Blackberry, etc.)

4. Indiana BeachesAlert: Location Monitors 54 (and counting) public and private beaches GPS-enabled devices automatically find regional beaches and mark status via scalable Google maps Other devices allow users to select by counties and lists of beaches

5. Indiana BeachesAlert: Flags Flags alert beachgoers to conditions at beach Easy to see and remember “stop light” color-codes are used Favorite beach closed or under an advisory? The mobile app makes finding a nearby beach open for swimming easy = Beach Closure = Beach Advisory = Beach Open

6. Indiana BeachesAlert: Closures The number of active advisories or closures for all beaches Specific location information and beach status Date the advisory or closure started Link to monitoring data for this beach Link to e-mail or text message sign up for this beach (users notified if any changes at that beach)

7. Indiana BeachesAlert: QR Codes Made for smartphones Can tie physical location to virtual world Can be coded for Web content, links, video or text Used to drive traffic and deliver specific content

8. Indiana BeachesAlert: Other Features Monitoring data for each beach from IDEM’s BeachGuard database Descriptions of IDEM’s Lake Michigan Beaches Program Information on E. coli monitoring and health effects Links to beach amenities and maps for each beach Links to U.S. EPA mobile app for UV Index

9. Indiana BeachesAlert: Customer Links U.S. EPA UV Index Mobile App

10. Indiana BeachesAlert: How Does It Work? Uses an RSS feed from a third-party vendor database setting behind a secure firewall (no active data portals through the state firewall) Data is continuously fed out via the RSS feeds to a HTML 5-based website designed for multiple users and device types Using HTML 5 instead of native app development saves time and money by eliminating multiple apps (one for each type of device) and reduces future maintenance costs IDEM also used a “joint agreement” with the developer to reduce costs for development and maintenance ◦ Allows developer to “re-sell” idea to other cities or states with an agreement that the sales defer or eliminate costs for improvements and maintenance

11. For More Information: www.IN.gov/beachesalert Visit IDEM’s BeachesAlert System: Mark Amick (mamick@idem.IN.gov)mamick@idem.IN.gov Michelle Caldwell (mcaldwel@idem.IN.gov)mcaldwel@idem.IN.gov Hala Kuss (hkuss@idem.IN.gov)hkuss@idem.IN.gov