Presented 23 June 2009 at

Joint Meeting of MeteoAlarmand the

WIS CAP Implementation Workshop on Identifiers

by Eliot Christian <echristian@wmo.int>

Identifiers and the Common Alerting

Protocol (CAP)

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)Observing and Information Systems Department

WMO Information System (WIS)

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Outline

What is CAP? Why and How would

MeteoAlarm use CAP? What are the issues with

Identifiers?

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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

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Structure of a CAP AlertCAP 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

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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)

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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)

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Typical CAP-based Alerting System

http://www.weather.gov/alerts

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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

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"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"

ITU Resolution 136

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"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."

U.S. Federal Communications Commission

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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

World Meteorological Organization

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Outline

What is CAP?Why and How would

MeteoAlarm use CAP?What are the issues with

Identifiers?

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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

How would MeteoAlarm Use CAP?

DWD Schema CAP Schema Notes

//warnings@issued//warnings@src

date-time & source for multiple alerts, useful for RSS Channel of CAP alerts

//warnings/area@class+" "+//warnings/area@id

//alert/info/headline//alert/info/areaDesc

the event type and criticality should be indicated in the headline

//warnings/area/altitude@bottom//warnings/area/altitude@tops//warnings/area/altitude@unit

//alert/info/area/altitude//alert/info/area/ceiling

Covert altitude between meters and feet

//warnings/area/warn@crit//warnings/area/warn@maxLevel

//alert/info/responseType//alert/info/urgency//alert/info/severity//alert/info/certainty//alert/info/instruction

generate the CAP element values based on DWD "crit" and "maxLevel" attribute values

//warnings/area/warn@src //alert/identifier//alert/info/sender//alert/info/senderName//alert/info/contact

generate the CAP element values from a look-up table using the DWD "src" attribute value

A message in CAP format could be generated automatically for each MeteoAlarm message, in a way similar to the following DWD example

Crosswalk of CAP and DWDDWD Schema CAP Schema Notes

//warnings/area/warn@issued //alert/sent UTC, using "issued" and "tz" attributes

//warnings/area/warn@valid //alert/info/onset//alert/info/expires

UTC using "valid" and "tz" attributes

//warnings/area/warn@tz

//warnings/area/warn/gewitter //alert/info/event look-up using "gewitter" and "level"

//warnings/area/warn/wind@level//warnings/area/warn/ wind@lowValue//warnings/area/warn/wind@unit

//alert/info/parameter/ valueName//alert/info/parameter/value

Example CAP parameter: <valueName>wind level</valueName> <value>1</value>

//warnings/area/warn/text@lan //alert/info/language use value as it is

//warnings/area/warn/text //alert/info/description use value as it is

//alert/status value "Actual"

//alert/msgType value "Alert"

//alert/scope value "Public"

//alert/info/category value "Met"

//alert/info/area/polygon//alert/info/area/geocode/ value

generate CAP element values from a look-up table using the DWD area "class" and "id" attribute values

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Outline

What is CAP?Why and How would

MeteoAlarm use CAP?What are the issues with

Identifiers?

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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

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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

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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

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MeteoAlarm input on these matters

would be Very Welcome!

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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>