The Full Picture

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begin looking for confirmation. Only when convinced

that the warning is not a false alarm, will people act.

CAP is compatible with all kinds of public alerting

information systems, including broadcast radio and tele-

vision as well as data networks. Rather than being

defined for a particular communications technology,

CAP defines a digital message format applicable to all

types of alerts. CAP is therefore compatible with new

technologies such as Web services, as well as existing

formats. CAP is also very useful where alerting systems

serve multilingual and special-needs populations.

A further benefit of CAP for emergency managers is

that standardized warnings from many sources can be

compiled for situational awareness and pattern detec-

tion. Managers are then able to monitor at any time the

whole picture across all types of local, regional, and

national warnings.

CAP serves as a kind of universal adaptor for alert messages. The

CAP standard message format has the features essential for both

existing and emerging alert systems and sensor technologies. This

means CAP can replace many single-purpose interfaces between alert

sources and dissemination media. From the perspective of warnings

technology, CAP is also a breakthrough standard that opens the door

to technical innovation. For example, location-aware receiving

devices use the standardized geospatial information in a CAP

message to select messages based on the device’s current location.

A key benefit of CAP for sending alert messages is that the sender

can activate multiple warning systems with a single input. Using a

single input reduces the cost and complexity of notifying many

warning systems.

CAP also provides consistency in the information delivered over

multiple systems. It is very important that people get exact corrobo-

ration of warnings coming through multiple channels. Research has

found that people do not typically act on the first warning signal, but

Volcanoes are monitored to warn of an eruption

GEOSS C

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Photo: Cyrus Read, AVO/USGS