Mobile app SafeKidZone is a tech-based safety net for both parents and their children

To be safe means to be protected from harm—and that is the single most important responsibility every parent carries for their children. The technology available to us today as consumers provides new tools that can be used to create an additional layer of protection for kids and individuals. The SafeKidZone is a mobile, safety protection network that integrates GPS, internet and your smartphone into a community of protection for your children.

The app currently runs on Blackberry, Android, and Symbian, with iPhone and Windows Mobile 7 capabilities forthcoming. The app takes advantage of the mobile phone hardware—most notably the GPS—that is common on most smartphones to help emergency personnel locate you in the event of an actual emergency. 

Michael Nussbacher, SafeKidZone’s Social Media Director, said in a phone interview that mobile is the future and that about 75% of 911 calls come from mobile devices, according to research done by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). It is something anyone working in technology understands, and today many children—sometimes as young as 9 to 12 years—have cellphones, according to an article in USA Today, published in February 2010, that talked about trends with the children of generation Y.

In a world where it seems everyone has a mobile device, the SafeKidZone is designed to create a community of protection think of it as your neighborhood watch meets Onstar. It is not meant to track people but instead provides another tool for children to use in an emergency and lessen a parent’s fears. It represents the trust between 2 people especially that between a child and their parents and the user inane cases a child is allowing themselves to be tracked by someone they trust. This safety network is made up of people you trust and you can rely on in the event of an emergency. Michael recommends that you should have four to five people in your safety network to be notified if a situation arises.

Parents can create a safety profile that has all the basic stats about their children like age, height, weight and any medical conditions they may have and have that quickly available to authorities if the need arises.

SafeKidZone connects to an online site that acts as the information hub where information is stored and can be shared with your safety network. It can be something as simple as a map showing relevant areas where criminal activity has occurred in the last 30 days, or where the closest police station is and or can show users if there are any registered sex offenders living in the area. SafeKidZone will help parents make informed decisions about what is safe or unsafe, right at their fingertips.

Beyond the app and the website is the call centre, which handles situations where the panic button is activated. Operating 24/7, these individuals’ direct calls get the right information to the proper authorities and emergency personnel. Basically, the app allows you to map a panic button on your phone so that in the event the panic button is pressed, a silent alert is received by the call centre. They would then call to confirm the nature of the situation and then send all relevant data such as your location via GPS and your safety profile to the authorities. You can also respond by sending an escalation code as confirmation that something has happened. In some emergencies, it is just not possible to respond—and in that case, after three minutes, police will be sent to to your location to provide assistance.

SafeKidZone offers a wealth of features for first responders and puts the power in the hands of the users. The core technology has been built over the last four years and there are many more features than can be covered but for more information check out their site or read Michael’s blog.

Michael said that, while the primary focus is on youth and their families, SafeKidZone is a tool he thinks everyone has a need for—in order to create trust and provide peace of mind for families. Michael will be putting up several short videos to showcasing how to use the SafeKidZone features on the blog over the coming days to show how modern tools and technology can create a safer world for you and your family.