Study on the videosurveillance system of the city of Milan. Evaluation of the usability of the SOS calling points.

This research was commissioned by AEM and has been selected and featured on the book ADI DESIGN INDEX 2007, which is published each year by ADI, the Association of Industrial Designers, that identifies the best design projects at national level. These projects, in turn, participate to the three-yearly competition “Compasso d'Oro” (Gold Compass).

The SOS interactive column for the city of Milan stems from a thorough research in the field of usability, and has been tested in the real environment in which it is used, and with different users. It is connected to the monitoring systems of the Municipal Police, whose call center operators have been specifically trained.
The assignment (2002-2006), given by AEM to Studio Steffan on behalf of the Municipality of Milan, consisted in an evaluation of the usability of the SOS calling points within the city of Milan and the development of a plan for its implementation in the whole metropolitan area. Studio Steffan has therefore proceeded with the evaluation of a specific manufactured article, that would be mainly used for emergency calls. The test was made by using 11 of these columns, that were located in the area around the Central Station. The evaluation was then carried out, by taking into consideration the environment in which it was used, and its real visibility and recognisability by the final users, by paying particular attention to weak users (elderly, people with disabilities, foreigners).
The ergonomic contribution aimed at identifying the criteria and tools that would enable AEM to find out how long the final user has to wait for a response, before the columns are implemented on a large scale.

The ergonomic evaluation has highlighted a series of problems, thus leading to the adoption of some corrective actions that were taken forward within the development plan of the SOS column (2003).

All this has entailed the coordination of various professionals (P.Favaretto designer, A. Zuliani, psychology of emergency), municipal departments (M. Grippa, representative of the Office for Financed Projects; Mobility and Transports; Urban Furniture) and companies (A. Gusmini, representative of AEM). The work group was coordinated by Isabella Steffan and has performed: the redesign of the column, according to the findings of the preliminary research, a training programme of first and second level for the call centre operators of the Municipal Police and a series of tests on the new manufactured article (2006).

This type of approach allows for the improvement of the effectiveness of the system, the reduction of the risks of dissatisfaction by users and operators, and for the setting of the foundations of the future implementation of the system, that has already been foreseen.

The project has been featured on ADI DESIGN INDEX 2007, Enterprise Research area, pages 318-319.
Moreover, this work has been presented at the following conferences: "Ergonomics between innovation and planning, working systems and life styles", VIII SIE National Conference, Milan, 9 - 10 February 2006, available in the Conference papers; “New developments in the usability of products”, Study day of the Polytechnic University of Milan, 16 January 2003, “The added value of ergonomics. What benefits for enterprises?”, SIE Conference, Turin, 10 October 2002 and publications: by Steffan I. and others, “Evaluation of the usability of a SOS column for the city of Milan” in Tosi F., Ergonomics & Design, Ed. Polidesign, Milan 2004 (pages 105-110)

Conference papers of the VIII SIE National Conference ›

ADI INDEX – executive summary ›