"Wildfires in California have dealt over 1.8 billion dollars in damages."

- Data from the 2020 California wildfire season

The 2020 wildfire season was a devastating event that left a lasting impact on the United States. The perfect storm of high temperatures, strong winds, and prolonged drought created ideal conditions for the rapid spread of fires, resulting in widespread damage and costly destruction. The western states, particularly California, Oregon, and Washington, bore the brunt of the devastation, with the August Complex Fire in California becoming the largest wildfire in the state's history. The smoke and ash generated by the fires also forced many residents to evacuate or take refuge indoors, due to hazardous air quality. The season serves as a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of climate change and extreme weather.

Blaze: Wildfires is an application that centralizes information regarding wildfire data and the various environmental effects that stems from them. Such data often contain jargon that complicates users from understanding the dangers of wildfires. The app's goal is to simplify the process of accessing such information and presenting them in an intelligible way.

The purpose of this development overview is to highlight the many requirements and features that Blaze should include throughout its development.

Technical Requirements

• The app should be built for mobile platforms that support the Swift development language

• The app should be able to communicate with data sources for information on wildfire locations and updates, such as the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) or the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC)

• The app should be able to communicate with Really Simple Syndication (RSS) data sources for air quality and news feeds

• The app should make use of the device's GPS capabilities

• The app should make use of existing map APIs to display the location of wildfires

Design Requirements

• The app should have a clean and modern design that is easy to navigate.

• The app should use a colors and clearly signify levels of danger to the user

• The app should use icons and imagery to clearly communicate the app's functionality.

• The app should have a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes and orientations.

• The app should include different UI states for different user actions and data inputs.

• The app should include error handling for unexpected data inputs and system failures.

• The app should have a linear navigation flow so that user input can produce a consistent and expected outcome.

• The app should have an emphasis on accessibility.

Feature Requirements

• Real-time updates: The ability to view wildfire data such as location, size, and containment status in real-time

• Air quality information: The ability to view the air quality index of the user's current location

• News feeds: The ability to view news feeds from fire stations and new outlets reporting on wildfires.

• Push notifications: The ability to send push notifications or alerts to inform users of new or changing wildfire information

• Historical Data: Allow the user to see historical data of wildfires from the past years

• Reporting: A feature that allows the user to report a wildfire with GPS location, picture, and more information

• Safety tips: Provide information about evacuation plans, emergency contact numbers, and other safety tips

• Language support: Support for multiple languages to make it accessible to a larger audience

The goal this development overview is to provide a clear and detailed visual representation of the app's user interface and user experience, and provides guidelines for the development team to follow as they build the app.