Posted by
David Ball on Mon, Sep 03, 2012 @ 06:54 PM
Chief Paul Dean of the University of New Hampshire was first interested in ping4alerts! to help him send timely safety and emergency alerts to people he can't easily reach -- visitors on campus. What he got was a whole lot more. Watch this short video to see what the chief, dispatch, students, and other campus organizations and surrounding merchants think of this revolutionary new communications medium we call hyperlocal mobile alerts.
As colleges and universities across the country are flooded with new and returning students, they face a familiar set of communications challenges. Freshmen and transfer students need the most help, and many have a seemingly infinite supply of questions about where to go, what they need, and where to get it. Hyperlocal alerts can help arriving parents and students be better informed so hectic times such as move-in week run more smoothly. Here are a few examples how:
1. Virtual Bulletin Boards for Campus Buildings
With hyperlocal alerts, your campus can be covered in invisible bulletin boards chock-full of useful information. A geofence around each dining hall could serve up that particular venue's menu and hours, along with a link to the dining services web site. Geofences around each dorm could welcome students with the name of each RA and information on hours and security. A geofence around each academic building could provide a list of the departments that hold classes there, as well as the location of professors' and administrative offices. Hyperlocal alerts provide endless "teaching" opportunities before your students ever enter a classroom.
2. Parking and Transit Information on the Third Screen
One of the major problems many colleges and universities face during move-in week is dealing with the overflow of cars from students, parents and visitors. Alerts sent to smartphones with directions to available parking lots, acceptable places to unload, and where students can go to get parking passes can help you to minimize traffic snarls and unsafe conditions, and avoid parking tickets or calls to the towing company.
3. Put Social Activities in Your Students’ Hands
The first week of school is usually exciting and packed with so many events that new students can easily lose track of them. Geofences around the location of beginning-of-the-year festivities and events will help increase attendance and make sure that students know what opportunities are available to them.
5. Connect With Local Businesses
Campus life and community extends beyond the confines of the school. New students will want to know where all the best -- or cheapest -- places are to grab a bite, pick up dorm decorations, furnishings or athletic gear. With a hyperlocal alerts system such as ping4alerts! deployed for public safety and campus communications, local merchants can be offered a brand-new medium for notifying students and campus visitors of deals, sales and special offers for those who opt-in to receive them. Better yet, you can turn those merchant deals into revenue for your school! (
Learn How)
5. Let Them Know They're in Good Hands
A personal video message from the chief of security or dean as people arrive on campus is a nice way to set the tone for the new school year. Letting them know that they can count on receiving important information, public safety and emergency alerts directly on their smartphone or tablet could be just the thing to calm the nerves of jittery freshmen -- and their parents -- and make everyone feel safe and welcomed in their new campus home.
This is just an introduction to all the ways hyperlocal mobile alerts can make campus life even more vibrant and exciting for new students, and make move-in week run as smoothly as possible. For more information, check out "7 Ways Hyperlocal Mobile Alerts Makes for a Safer Campus" or sign up for one of our free informational webinars.
Blackstone, MA is the latest public safety agency to launch ping4alerts!, the revolutionary hyperlocal alerts app for smartphones. Chief Ross Atstupenas had been looking for a more effective way to communicate with the people in his community, and found that ping4alerts! was the solution. “We can paint a box on a map around a particular section of town to alert citizens of a heightened level of criminal activity, missing children, dangerous storm, traffic problems or other situations,” said Atstupenas. For the full story, check out this video from NECN:
Read the full article from the Worcester Telegraph here!
Ping4 Inc. is excited to announce that Hampton Beach, NH has come on board and joined the hyperlocal mobile alerts revolution!
When asked about getting started with Ping4, Inc., Hampton Beach PD Chief Jamie Sullivan said, “This allows us to significantly increase our reach to our citizens and visitors, enabling us to notify them of riptides, missing children, crimes, traffic congestion and much more."
Check out this great coverage from NECN:
And make sure to download the story from the Union Leader!
The Source (the official publication of the American Public Gas Association) just published a great article on how our ping4alerts! solution can be leveraged by public gas and utilities to send safety alerts AND to improve customer support and communications during a crisis.
According to Paul Afonso, former Massachusetts Public Utilities Commission Chairman, "Public safety is extraordinarily important to our industry. Technology advancements and mobile communications are empowering utilities to deliver greater reliability and safety to our customers.
"...While the cost of not communicating with customers and the community in a timely and responsive manner can translate to lost lives, property, and millions in fines, the cost of Ping4 to a public utility averages only pennies per customer per year."
Download the entire article here!
As more people use smartphones as their primary method of communicating and accessing the information that's important to them, technology has kept pace through the ability to deliver relevant, better targeted information to end users. For Ping4alerts! this has culminated in the development of a technology we call mobile netcasting to deliver hyperlocal mobile alerts to smartphone and tablet users. Rather than simply bombarding users with information on a variety of topics they are interested in, a hyperlocal alert gives users information that's useful right where they are, the moment they receive it.
For example, you're sitting at home. All of a sudden you lose power. No lights, no TV, no computer. Emergency alerts are going out over the television and radio, but with no power, you're literally in the dark. Suddenly your cell phone lights up with a message from NOAA or your regional emergency management agency alerting you that there are tornados in your town and what to do immediately to protect yourselve and your loved ones.
Another scenario: You're at the mall with your kids and one of goes missing. You talk to mall security or the local police, and they send an alert to every smartphone in and around the mall describing the missing child, including a photo if one was available, and what to do if the child is spotted.
That's the power of a hyperlocal alert - information you need, where and when you need it.
That's where ping4alerts! comes in!
Ping4alert! keeps people safe, secure and informed through partnerships with local, regional and national public safety agencies as well as the private sector. Our app is free for users, and by allowing each user to choose to opt in to alerts and notifications from organizations as diverse as universities, K-12, utility companies, arenas, restaurants and retailers we provide an unparalleled opportunity for public/private sector partnerships and a force multiplier for driving downloads of the app to increase the audience for your hyperlocal alerts.
If you're an end user, check out our free ping4alerts! app in the App Store or Google Play. If you work for a business, public safety department, or college/university and think you may benefit from the ability to send hyperlocal alerts, check out our solution overview video.
And subscribe to this blog for more information about this new and exciting technology, customer and user experiences, case studies and best practices.
Stay safe and stay alert with ping4alerts!
