A Tabletop-Centric Smart Space for Emergency Response

This article describes the design and implementation of a smart space for emergency response based on five system design guidelines. A large-scale interactive tabletop with dedicated software serves as the center for collaboration. Information on the tabletop and peripheral devices can be shared via a user interface sharing technique. The authors deployed their smart space in a forest fire simulation and evaluated team performance in comparison with a control group. Analysis of the results reveals that this smart space can significantly improve team performance as well as team cognition. This article is part of a special issue on smart spaces.