Topic outline

  • CAP resources logo This collection of resources provides IT and communications staff guidance on setting up the software used for issuing CAP alerts and assuring that alerts meet CAP standards. As a collection of resources, this is a not a course, no badges or certificates of completion are issued.

    • From an IT perspective, implementing the CAP standard is fairly straightforward. The key is knowing how the CAP standards dictate the format and dissemination of alerts. As an XML-based protocol, the basic principles are simple: create your alerts in properly formatted XML files and make those files easily accessible to your clients. Beyond the basics, things of course become a bit more involved. If you already have a tool for creating alerts, you'll need to evaluate how to best convert those alerts to the CAP standards for format and content. You'll also need to host an alert news feed following the proper syndication standards. Other factors to consider include validation, security, and, depending on the target audience, the types of media appropriate for inclusion in an alert. Every organization will have unique needs. 

      The CAP Basics course provides an introduction to CAP alerting. Guidelines for Implementing CAP Alerts provides a framework for developing an implementation plan. Here, you'll hopefully find the resources you'll need to put that plan in place. Since this is not a course, there is no particular order in which you need to review these resources nor will all resources be necessarily helpful to you.

      For a brief and generic guideline for implementing CAP alerting tools, you may want to refer to the WMO No. 1109 Guidelines for Implementation of Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)-Enabled Emergency Alerting. While it doesn't go into details, it does provide an overview of the various technologies and tools a CAP alert system may contain. 

    • WMO-No. 1109 Guidelines for Implementation of Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)-Enabled Emergency Alerting File 3.6MB PDF document

      Guidelines for implementing the technical components of the CAP standard. Also available in other languages here. 

  • Defining CAP XML Standards

    These resources provide details on the XML structure of CAP messages. This information is critical for organizations developing or updating their own CAP alert authoring tools. 

  • Creating a Source of CAP Alerts

    These resources pertain to creating a source of CAP alerts. Options here include writing alerts using a text authoring tool, modifying an existing alerting tool, hosting open source tools, or using an alert hosting service. Your situation and needs will dictate which resources to use.

  • Publishing Alert News Feeds

    Through the use of RSS or Atom syndication standards, CAP alerts are published and made available to their target audience. The following resources provide insight on using and creating CAP alert news feeds.

  • Sample CAP-enabled Aggregators and Hubs

    The following is a very small sampling of CAP alert technology leveraged for situational awareness. It is informative to explore these and other alerting tools to gather ideas for your own organizational needs.

  • Register of Alerting Authorities

    • WMO/TD No. 1556: Administrative Procedure for Registering WMO Alerting Identifiers File 220.6KB PDF document

      This document enables the registration of Object IDentifiers (OIDs) for alerting information, i.e., content included in alert messages or otherwise associated with the activity of alerting. The Registration Authority, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), maintains these OIDs and accepts requests through WMO Members for the assignment of additional OIDs for information objects relevant to alerting. This document specifies rules for the registration of all such OIDs subordinate to the alerting OID arc administered by WMO. Also available in other languages here. 

    • WMO Register of Alerting Authorities URL

      The international Register of Alerting Authorities was set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Each WMO Permanent Representative (PR) maintains entries for their nation. The PR represents the entire nation and should register all nationally recognized alerting authorities. The Register is maintained by the WMO Public Weather Services Delivery (PWSD) programme.