Amateur Radio is a distributed resource able to transmit messages when all other forms of communications fail. As such it is predestined to support situational awareness in times of emergencies.
FLDIGI is a suite of programs which allow easy sending and receipt of ICS (Incident Command System) Forms as developed by FEMA and the US Coast Guard. These structured messages should be well suited for ATOM or RSS feeds, due to their well known structure and common use in Incident Command Systems.
I thus propose that the data of ICS forms received by Amateur Radio Operators, be it that they provide service under ARES (the Amateur Radio Emergency Service) or as individuals who monitor the airwaves (for example the NBEMS Radio Assistance Network) be copied into individual blog entries, which in turn are offered as ATOM or RSS feeds, same as this blog on Blogger is available as an ATOM and RSS feed.
This presentation of data should also be extended to all other forms of more randomly received data from emergency areas, for example by entering it into an ICS-213 form, which lends itself to an open text entry.
This ATOM/ RSS data can then in turn be incorporated into Situational Awareness Maps.
See, now you're thinking...
ReplyDeleteLayering the super map with this data could be good, but we've have to know a geographical origination of the data for it to make sense on a map. At some point, your super map is going to be flooded with too much (hence the toggle on/off functions), so there may need to be a standard as to what is shared to the map.
By the way, I respectfully take expectation to your lead paragraph: "Amateur Radio is a distributed resource able to transmit messages when all other forms of communications fail. "
I would say that *radio (amateur or not) is among the forms of communication that we can use in many situations, including when infrastructure-dependent forms of communications fail. Radio can fail, too (bad propagation, power loss, equipment failure).
Take a listen to this presentation. I think Mike Corey puts things into good perspective.
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/TrainingModules/Presentations%20and%20Talks/wmv%20movie%20of%20ppt.wmv
Yes,
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree, the data entered has to be classified by it's type, allowing it to be layered; originating and receiving station have to be identified; time stamp when data was received, Maidenhead Locator (or Lat Long coordinates) of need as well.
So you did not buy my pitch for radio comms :)) ok... I agree with you as you outlined :)
Seeing that your linked video is 1 hour long, I'll probably need until the weekend to view it, will get back to you on it then.
vy 73 de Marcus KD0JKM