As part of National Fire Prevention Week, Allstate have released Escape Route, a new Allstate Mobile app feature that leverages augmented reality (AR) to help families create and practice fire escape plans. According to the National Fire Protection Association, fire departments within the United States respond to a home fire every 90 seconds. Because of this, and the fact only one-third of American households have developed and practiced a home fire escape plan, action needed to be taken.
Allstate Mobile’s Escape Route is designed to help users create a plan to protect themselves and their families when a disaster strikes. By using the camera within a mobile device to add a virtual image to the real-world surroundings, users can get a sense of the danger without being in any real danger themselves. Users start by marking a starting point, trace a route and designate an exit point at least 50 feet away from their home. The app then overlays the route on users’ real-life surroundings and families can review and access this virtual plan at any given time.
“We constantly innovate and look at how new technologies can be applied to real-world problems,” said Allstate’s Director of Mobility Michael Antognoli, “Protecting our customers is our business, so we’re excited to share this new innovation using augmented reality to help families plan an emergency escape route using the Allstate Mobile app.”
The release of the new AR Escape Route features builds on Allstate’s commitment to customer safety and is the latest of the company’s fire safety initiatives. Families looking to learn more on how to keep their homes safe from fire can find plenty of useful information on the Allstate blog, which includes articles and videos on home safety, testing smoke detectors and choosing the right fire extinguishers.
Furthermore, Escape Route has been designed to be user-friendly, so kids and parents can create their virtual plan together and thanks to the included tips on fire safety and awareness, the experience is educational. The Escape Route feature within the Allstate Mobile app will be available to iOS device owners running iOS 11.3 and above. There is currently no word on an Android release as of yet.
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