Public Alerts And best practices for CAP feed
Public Alerts And best practices for CAP feed integrations Ruha Devanesan, Google Crisis Response Partnerships Thomas Riga, Crisis Response Technical Integrations Confidential + Proprietary
In times of Crisis, people turn to tools they know and trust Chennai Floods Superstorm Sandy Paris Attacks In a crisis, we know that people turn to Search, Maps and You. Tube. . . And that we have unique strengths 9. 6 M global and 6. 9 M India queries in Nov. Dec. (~1. 2 B daily searchers*) 11 M visits to Superstorm Sandy Crisis Map in first 24 hours (15 M in total) 5. 1 M global and 1. 6 M France queries in Nov. (~830 M daily viewers*) We are a source of trusted information. Rumours can spread virally on social networks but people turn to Google for credible information. We have reach and understand location. When people are in immediate danger, accurate information about location and proximity are critical. We have access to video and photos. You. Tube, has the potential to be a source of information, a welcome and useful global community. Confidential + Proprietary
Why we care As much as half the world’s (4 B) population is at risk of natural disaster, these causing ~$200 Billion in economic damage annually Confidential + Proprietary
What are we solving for? 1. What has happened/about to happen? 1. How bad is it? How bad will it be? 1. What can I do about it? 1. How can I help? “Flash flood until 3: 15 am. It didn't say what to do. Do we stay in our home do we leave and if so what direction do we head towards. My Mom is Elderly and I have to use a wheelchair. This is scary. What are we supposed to do? Where do we go? ” Source Confidential + Proprietary
The power of Public Alerts Google Public Alerts help you surface timely, relevant information to people potentially impacted by the alert. Common examples of alerts include weather-related warnings for affected areas (e. g. tropical storms, floods, tornadoes) as well as earthquakes and other public safety event information. Confidential + Proprietary
Across Multiple Google Surfaces Search Discover Weather Confidential + Proprietary
I’m convinced how do we sign up? Confidential + Proprietary
How Google Public Alerts work Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) feed Google properties What you do: What you submit: What happens: Use your preferred method to format your data into a feed Industry-standard data, an alerts feed in CAP format Google ingests your data and shows alerts across Google properties - like Search, Maps & Android - to impacted users Your alert information < alert > Confidential + Proprietary
Technical integration overview Use these steps to integrate your Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) data with Google Public Alerts. Step 1 Step 2 Generate CAP alerts Publish your alerts feed Step 3 Run the technical integration and tests with Google Step 4 Launch and maintain your information for Public Alerts Confidential + Proprietary
Step 1 Generate CAP alerts Confidential + Proprietary
You have 2 options for generating alerts Automated generation Manual creation Setup your system to dynamically format your database information into a CAP feed and auto-submit it to Google Manually create and submit alert content as needed via a web-based application Confidential + Proprietary
Set up automated alert generation Format your data in CAP. In addition, follow the Google-specific requirements for CAP files to ensure your alerts process correctly. CAP v 1. 2 specification Google requirements Confidential + Proprietary
Google-specific requirements for CAP feeds ➔ Rich content ➔ Content optimized for the web & phones ➔ Updating alerts Confidential + Proprietary
Rich content ● Some CAP elements that are optional in the OASIS spec are mandatory for Google: <info>, <expires>, <description>, <area>, <web> ● Include rich, actionable, human-readable content in the <description> and <instruction> elements ○ the current event ○ predicted developments ○ expected impact ○ recommended actions ● Use plain-text or markdown to improve the readability of your content ● Do not use HTML tags ● Publish in multiple languages: create one <alert> containing multiple <info> blocks, with one <info> block per language Confidential + Proprietary
Content optimized for the web & phones ● Provide a short description of the affected area in the <area. Desc> field ○ The description will be displayed in the alert title ○ Use location names, no phrases with location descriptions ● Use correct, short range alert expirations ○ Severe and extreme alerts are pushed to users in the target area proactively ○ No need to set long expiration ranges to ensure that users see the alert ● Draw impact-based polygons that are customized for ○ current conditions & nature of the event ○ avoid targeting alerts to large predefined geopolitical areas Confidential + Proprietary
Updating alerts When an alert is changed, issue a new alert that refers to the previous alert, instead of changing or removing the existing alert from your feed After an appropriate amount of time (e. g. 24 -48 hours), remove cancelled, updated, or expired alerts from your feed Use <msg. Type>Update</msg. Type> or <msg. Type>Cancel</msg. Type> and the <references> element to refer to the sender, identifier, and sent information of all previous unexpired alerts about the same event Confidential + Proprietary
Step 2 Publish your alerts feed Confidential + Proprietary
Deliver your data: Submit your feeds Deliver CAP alerts in an Atom (preferred), RSS, or EDXL-DE 1. 0 feed Include a link in your web feed to your full CAP alert Confidential + Proprietary
Secure your data These security measures allow Google to verify the origin of CAP alerts and ensure the integrity of the important information you deliver to the public. ● HTTPS (recommended) ○ Must use an SSL certificate issued by Google Chrome-trusted certificate authority ● HTTP ○ With this option, use of XML signatures is mandatory Confidential + Proprietary
Step 3 Technical integration and testing Confidential + Proprietary
Google tests your integration You publish CAP data for actual events. Google will ingest and test your alerts without showing them publicly to ensure high quality and robustness. We may need historical data to cover infrequent event types. Confidential + Proprietary
Step 4 Launch and maintain your data Confidential + Proprietary
Google launches your alerts to the public We’ll work with you to establish a time to go live. Once you’ve launched, continue working with Google to keep your Public Alerts in good working order. Notify us about important changes, new event types, planned downtime, fresh security certificates, changes to your geodata/shapefiles etc. Confidential + Proprietary
Thank You Confidential + Proprietary
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