Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and Identifiers for MeteoAlarm

1. World Meteorological Organization (WMO)Observing and Information Systems DepartmentWMO Information System (WIS) Identifiers and the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Presented 23 June 2009 at Joint Meeting of MeteoAlarmand the WIS CAP Implementation Workshop on Identifiersby Eliot Christian <echristian@wmo.int>

2. Outline • What is CAP? • Why and How would MeteoAlarm use CAP? • What are the issues with Identifiers? Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

3. What is CAP? The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a standard message format designed for All-Media, All-Hazard, communications: • over any and all media (television, radio, telephone, fax, highway signs, e-mail, Web sites, RSS "Blogs", ...) • about any and all kinds of hazard (Weather, Fires, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Landslides, Child Abductions, Disease Outbreaks, Air Quality Warnings, Beach Closings, Transportation Problems, Power Outages, ...) • to anyone: the public at large; designated groups (civic authority, responders, etc.); specific people Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

4. Structure of a CAP Alert CAP Alert messages contain: • Text values for human readers, e.g., "headline", "description", "instruction", "area description", etc. • Coded values useful for filtering, routing, and automated translation to human languages Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

5. Filtering and Routing Criteria • Date/Time • Geographic Area(polygon, circle, geographic codes) • Status(Actual, Exercise, System, Test) • Scope(Public, Restricted, Private) • Type(Alert, Update, Cancel, Ack, Error) Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

6. Filtering and Routing Criteria • Event Categories(Geo, Met, Safety, Security, Rescue, Fire, Health, Env, Transport, Infra, Other) • Urgency: Timeframe for responsive action(Immediate, Expected, Future, Past, Unknown) • Severity: Level of threat to life or property(Extreme, Severe, Moderate, Minor, Unknown) • Certainty: Probability of occurrence(Very Likely, Likely, Possible, Unlikely, Unknown) Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

7. Typical CAP-based Alerting System Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

8. http://www.weather.gov/alerts

9. The CAP Standard (X.1303) • Compatible with legacy as well as newer transports (WMO messages, news wires, digital TV, Web Services, ...) • Flexible geographic targeting • Phased and delayed effective time, expiration • Message update and cancellation features • May include inline digital images and audio • Approved by OASIS as Version 1.1 (2005) • Adopted as ITU Recommendation X.1303 (2006) • Significant uptake, many implementations Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

10. ITU Resolution 136 "The Plenipotentiary Conference [...] resolves to instruct the Directors of the Bureaux [...]to promote implementation by appropriate alerting authorities of the international content standard for all-media public warning, in concert with ongoing development of guidelines by all ITU Sectors for application to all disaster and emergency situations" Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

11. U.S. Federal Communications Commission "Washington, D.C. - The Federal Communications Commission today adopted [an Order that] requires [Emergency Alert System (EAS)] participants to accept messages using Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) [...] The use of CAP will help to ensure the efficient and rapid transmission of EAS alerts [...] in a variety of formats (including text, audio and video) and via different means (broadcast, cable, satellite, and other networks) [...]In addition, the Order expands the EAS system by requiring participation by wireline video providers." Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

12. World Meteorological Organization • WMO Congress (2007) requested Secretary-General to improve the exchange of high priority data and products in support of a virtual all hazards network • WMO Executive Council (2008) requested Commission for Basic Systems to follow up on CAP implementation as a matter of urgency • WMO Executive Council (2009) asked the Secretariat, and invited all Members and Regional Associations, to spare no efforts in ensuring that the implementation of CAP benefits all user communities Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

13. Outline • What is CAP? • Why and How would MeteoAlarm use CAP? • What are the issues with Identifiers? Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

14. Why would MeteoAlarm Use CAP? • Convergence on common standards makes any warning system more effective and efficient • MeteoAlarm CAP messages would be more easily processed by software that handles CAP already • Immediate Benefit: enhanced dissemination of MeteoAlarm messages • Longer-term Benefit: Easier integration of MeteoAlarm with newer systems that use CAP Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

15. How would MeteoAlarm Use CAP? • A message in CAP format could be generated automatically for each MeteoAlarm message, in a way similar to the following DWD example

16. Crosswalk of CAP and DWD

17. Outline • What is CAP? • Why and How would MeteoAlarm use CAP? • What are the issues with Identifiers? Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

18. What are the Issues with Identifiers? A few CAP elements allow free text (unconstrained values) for identifiers, BUT: • Some identifiers are harder to communicate(e.g., UUID with 32 hexadecimal characters,550e84ac-e29b-41d4-a716-446655448732 ) • Harmonized identifiers could enhance the common understanding of message contents • Harmonized identifiers are useful for aggregating across systems and over time Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

19. The CAP Workshop on Identifiers As input to the relevant OASIS and ITU committees, the CAP Implementation Workshop on Identifiers is developing a Draft "Implementors Note" concerning: • general requirements such as simplicity, usability, flexibility, extensibility, scalability, and deployability • considerations about distributed versus centralized management approaches of various identifier schemes • considerations about long-term reliability of identifier registrars, and the availability of high-performance tools for discovering attributes of any given identifier • suggestions on some specific CAP identifiers Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

20. Likely Suggestions on Identifiers Different alerting authorities and carriers using CAP operationally could harmonize identifiers of: • particular CAP messagese.g., 2.29.0.840.1.57.2009-06-22T23:56:38-04:00 = alert for Butler county, Alabama, 22 June at 11:56:38 • alerting authorities (organizations and policies)e.g., 2.29.1.840 = United States National Weather Service • particular hazard threats/eventse.g., 2.29.2.GLIDE.TC-2009-000118-MEX = GLIDE identifier for tropical storm Andres, in Mexico Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

21. MeteoAlarm input on these matters would be Very Welcome! Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

22. References CAP "flyer"http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/ISS/Meetings/WIS-CAP_Geneva2008/flyer2008.doc CAP Implementation Workshop on Identifiershttp://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/ISS/Meetings/WIS-CAP_Geneva2009/DocPlan.html OASIS Emergency Management TC http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/emergency Contact Eliot Christian <echristian@wmo.int> Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)