1. Public Alerting and CAP in Canada
WMO CAP Workshop
Geneva, Switzerland
Norm Paulsen
Environment Canada
April 6-7, 2011

2. Setting the Stage (slide 1 of 2)
Public Alerting is a Business in Canada that uses CAP as a tool
This Business is actually a loosely established community of users…
issuers and distributors
government and private
alerting authorities and vendors
CAP-CP (CAP – Canadian Profile) defines for this community…
A CAP Profile (rules on CAP usage)
A Business Profile (rules on Business usage)

3. Setting the Stage (slide 2 of 2)
CAP-CP rules on CAP
Some optional CAP elements are now required
Some multiple use elements are restricted
CONCLUSION: Still valid CAP – you just won’t see some cases you might see in other systems or countries
CAP-CP rules on the Business of Public Alerting (if you are a participant of the CAP-CP community)
Use an Event list defined for CAP-CP
Use a Location geocode list defined for CAP-CP
CONCLUSION: Still interoperable – our lists can have a simple transform to any other profile

4. Canadian Public Alerting (slide 1 of 2)
Community Includes…
Issuers
Environment Canada
Natural Resources Canada
Public Safety Canada
Provinces (New Brunswick, Alberta, BC, others coming on line)
Local Jurisdictions, fire, police, etc…
Aggregators
NAAD (National Alerting, Aggregation and Dissemination)
Broadcast Interests within Canada
MASAS (Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System
Emergency Authorities within Canada
Distributors
TV, Radio, Internet, (Mobile)

5. Canadian Public Alerting (slide 2 of 2)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<alert xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:emergency:cap:1.2">
<identifier>CA-EC-CWTO </identifier>
<sent> T20:00:00-00:00</sent>
<status>Actual</status>
<msgType>Alert</msgType>
<scope>Public</scope>
<code>profile:CAP-CP:0.4</code>
<info>
<language>en-CA</language>
<category>Met</category>
<category>Env</category>
<category>Health</category>
<event>air quality</event>
<eventCode>
<valueName>profile:CAP-CP:Event:0.4</valueName>
<value>airQuality</value>
</eventCode>
<expires> T01:00:00-00:00</expires>
<senderName>Environment Canada</senderName>
<headline>air quality alert</headline>
<urgency>Immediate</urgency>
<severity>Moderate</severity>
<certainty>Observed</certainty>
<area>
<areaDesc>Misssissauga</areaDesc>
<geocode>
<valueName>profile:CAP-CP:Location:0.3</valueName>
<value> </value>
</geocode>
</area>
<areaDesc>Oakville</areaDesc>
<value> </value>
</info>
</alert>
Issuer
interfaces with
input form, mapping application, etc.
Issuing Application
produces
CAP-CP
Aggregator
collects and shares
CAP-CP
Distributor
filters and converts CAP-CP to common and proprietary protocols
Recipient
interfaces with common products and services. Ex. , map, RSS, TV, ... 5 5

6. Links across borders (slide 1 of 1)
Source: FEMA IPAWS 6 6

7. Community contributions (example 1 of 5) - CAP-CP Location References
13 - New Brunswick
Census divisions
Code
Name
Type
1301
Saint John
County
1302
Charlotte
1303
Sunbury
1304
Queens
1305
Kings
1306
Albert
1307
Westmorland
1308
Kent
1309
Northumberland
1310
York
1311
Carleton
1312
Victoria
1313
Madawaska
1314
Restigouche
1315
Gloucester
Census subdivisions
Code
Name
Type
Saint Martins
Parish
St. Martins
Village
Simonds
Saint John
City
Musquash
You can add other location references, including your grid references, postal codes, etc.
Environment Canada will include additional location references used in their systems.
Statistics Canada - Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 7 7

8. Pro’s and Con’s Con: Can create over-alerting
Pro: Allows existing systems (especially those not based in GIS) an easy way into the community
Location Code
Notification list
1301
- Fire station 23
- Fire station 24
1302
- Fire station 39
1303
- Sunbury General hospital
- Fire station 11

9. Canadian Profile
Manages the location references code list through ongoing versions
Has a requirement for at least one location code per message in order to optimize current community engagement
But… has also defined an interpretation that GIS constructs are a superior method for location referencing and…
Issuers that can include <polygon>, <circle> should
End of the line Distributors can choose to process one, or the other, or both location referencing schemes
Designed in a way that nets the same result should one apply the CAP interpretation

10. Community contributions (example 2 of 5) - MASAS
Multi-Agency
Local, regional, provincial/territorial, federal, first nations, non-government organizations, utilities, critical infrastructure managers, private service providers, police, fire, emergency medical services, emergency management, search and rescue, transportation, health, public works, utilities, education, critical infrastructure owners, ...
(Shared) Situational Awareness
Dynamic, current, transient, event related geospatial information
For use with base maps, thematic maps, and other information
Systems (of systems)
Open architecture: GIS, incident management, dispatch, ...
Open standards: Messaging, documents, geospatial, ... 10 10

11. Common Operating Picture11 11

12. Community contributions (example 3 of 5) - CAPAN Symbology Service
Systems poll service for symbols
Systems insert web references in feeds for other systems to poll
Experimental!!! 12

13. Community contributions (example 4 of 5)
Community contributions (example 4 of 5) - CAPAN Event Location “Layer”
This “Layer” defines a practice for including event location in CAP messages
CAP only defines the area to be alerted (yellow)
The Layer contribution defines the area where the event is actually occurring (orange)
Key feature in Multi-Agency Situational Awareness Systems (MASAS) initiative
Available at:
This feature has been a significant factor in CAP’s adoption in Canada. We can expect to event location in the next version of CAP. 13 13

14. Practices
The CAP – Canadian Profile was designed to encourage good practices
Whether anything we have done ever is considered a “best practice” by the community remains to be seen but…
We try to address global interoperability in everything we do
We try address change as an ongoing business reality
We generally use existing XML “best practices” to extend CAP
CAP-CP Handbook? Implementation Guide?

15. Community contributions (example 5 of 5) - Reference Implementation
Part of the Table of Contents
Reference Implementation  A business-level discussion of CAP-CP for project managers on a non-technical level.
Canadian Profile (CAP-CP)  A unique set of Canadian rules and Canadian managed list values that altogether are termed the CAP Canadian Profile.
Using CAP-CP both within and outside of Canada 
Including Standard CAP Alert Information  How to interpret standard elements.
Sending a CAP Alert to the Public  The process of using aggregators and dissemination (or distribution).
Including Non-Standard CAP Alert Information  Ability to continue serving a subset of recipients while using the Canadian Profile.
Standard CAP with Non-Standard CAP-CP 
Versioning  Ensuring that issuers and distributors are speaking the same language.
Simultaneous Alerts 
Identifying the area of an alert  Geocodes and managed lists to communicate location using CAP-CP.
Referencing International areas  The ability to identify international locations using text and layers.
Including other geocode lists with CAP-CP 
Using geospatial data to avoid over-alerting  Geospatial datasets (polygons, circles) to represent the location of an alert.
Identifying the event  Using event codes, and limiting to one event per alert with CAP-CP.
Multiple Languages and Human-Readable Text  Components of CAP that are human-readable, and distribution for native languages.
Alert updates  An overview of how CAP allows for alert updates.
Methods, uses and considerations for alert updates  Different ways a CAP alert can be updated, and considerations for when to use each method.
Minor updates for non-substantive changes  Using the CAP-CP minor update parameter.
Merging and dividing alerts  Methods to merge and divide alerts involving the same area.
Changing the event type  Methods to change an event type when using one event type per CAP alert.
Distributing CAP messages  Methods for issuers to distribute messages to aggregators and distributors.
Digital signatures  Ensuring the authenticity of CAP public alerts.

16. Abbreviated Implementation Guide example of an air quality alert for Mississauga using multiple categories:
Multiple use of category
Some hazards can map to multiple <category /> values. In this case, all of the categories that are applicable can be applied to the alert.
CAP-CP requires the use of an <eventCode> from the CAP-CP Managed “Event References” List. Categories also map from this list.
Environment Canada includes categories other than Met in their CAP-CP messages where appropriate, to ensure that any user who is filtering on a specific category receives the alert message.

17. Issuer Recipient Issuing Application Aggregator Distributor
interfaces with
input form, mapping application, etc.
Issuing Application
produces
CAP-CP
Aggregator
collects and shares
CAP-CP
Distributor
filters and converts CAP-CP to common and proprietary protocols
Recipient
interfaces with common products and services. Ex. , map, RSS, TV, ... 17 17

18. Thank You WMO CAP Workshop Geneva, Switzerland
Norm Paulsen
Environment Canada
April 6-7, 2011