r/halifax • u/Scared-Chart-3400 • 23h ago

Support Local SurgeProtocol Public Map Redesign

https://surgeprotocol.ca/map/

The public version of SurgeProtocol has received a fresh UI overhaul.

Disclaimer: SurgeProtocol was built primarily using AI. It is not an alerting product and you should continue to follow the direction of official channels.

With that out of the way, what is SurgeProtocol?

SurgeProtocol is a public hazard map built for Nova Scotia, and part of a larger project I've undertaken to help improve Emergency Management in the province. One of the biggest complaints I've seen from people online was how scattered information was, often requiring navigation of multiple websites - so I consolidated everything into one easy to view place.

While the system right now is not an alerting product, my hope is that with the right partnerships future iterations of this will allow the operator version of this product to push updates to the public view, showing things like evacuation zones, emergency shelters, road closures and more.

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have and welcome any feedback on the tool itself as long as it is constructive.

Edit: changes from feedback in the comments. Outage totals now use Nova Scotia Power's published figures, the weather card's forecast link opens the Halifax forecast, and Tier 1 hospitals include the adult trauma centres.

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10

u/JDGumby Sprytown 23h ago

SurgeProtocol was built primarily using AI. It is not an alerting product and you should continue to follow the direction of official channels.

In other words, it's useless slop.

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u/timetogetjuiced 22h ago

Because the government isn't / wont use it, so there's literally no point other than it being a read only view of what's going on in the province currently.

Also its wrong, the current NS power outage info is incorrect compared to the NS power outage map.

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u/Scared-Chart-3400 22h ago

Hi there - it is not "incorrect" - NS Power uses the term "fewer" if it is under 5 people, that could be anywhere between 1 and 5, and likely deliberately done so it looks better on their own outage site. I have done the opposite and I've assigned a number of 4 to that because I'd rather over-estimate than under-estimate, it also the reason the card says "About" which means it is an estimate.

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u/WindowlessBasement Halifax 21h ago

They mean the literal count.

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u/Scared-Chart-3400 21h ago edited 21h ago

There is no number assigned to 5 on their outage map, so it's anywhere between 1 and 5 people affected. This is why there are more people on my dashboard than their outage map.

Edit: this was wrong, see my correction below.

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u/WindowlessBasement Halifax 21h ago

That only matter it you are using the individual alerts.

The data feed has a fixed number and you would know that if you even slightly looked at the published feed instead of creating slop.

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u/timetogetjuiced 19h ago

It's AI slop , so the dashboard he made is useless as others have noted

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u/cptstubing16 Halifax 23h ago

How is it useless slop?

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u/WindowlessBasement Halifax 22h ago

The fact that it's currently wrong is probably a good sign regardless of feelings around AI.

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u/Scared-Chart-3400 22h ago

Hi there,

Would you mind telling me what is incorrect?

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u/WindowlessBasement Halifax 21h ago
  • The outage count is wrong
  • The weather forecast links to alerts
  • Outage information is useless without areas.
  • The second feature in your list is burn areas; they aren't displayed.
  • It's unclear why IWK is the only hospital displayed by default.

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u/Scared-Chart-3400 21h ago edited 21h ago

Going through these:

Outage count: it's built from Nova Scotia Power's own outage map. For outages under 5 customers they don't publish the number, so the map counts each one as 4, the most it could be, and says so on the card. It won't match a total built from numbers they don't release.

Edit:

Outage count: the totals now come straight from Nova Scotia Power's published figures.

Forecast link: it pointed to the alerts page. It now goes to the Halifax forecast.

Outage areas: Nova Scotia Power only publishes an area for some outages. Turn on Power outages under Map layers. Where they publish an area it's drawn, otherwise it's a point, same as their own map. The card names the nearest community.

Burn areas: burning rules are set by county. The Outdoor burning card lists which counties fall under each rule. Before BurnSafe's 2 pm update every county is closed, so in the morning there's nothing to show and the card makes room for something that is.

Hospitals: Tier 1 shows the Level 1 trauma centres, adult and children's. Tier 2 shows the regional and other acute hospitals.

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u/cptstubing16 Halifax 22h ago

Nice map! When do the medical alerts/MVA points expire? Is it determined by the service or the app?

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u/Scared-Chart-3400 22h ago

Thanks! The alerts come from the HRFE Incident Feed: https://www.halifax.ca/safety-security/fire-emergency/hrfe-incident-feed

Any that occur within a 2 hour window are shown, after that they just quietly fall off.