[EAS] Google Public Alerts

[Richard_Rudman]

I have been watching the recent Google announcement of their public warning initiative.

They have apparently struck up deals with NOAA, NWS, and USGS to, quoting directly from their website:

Google Public Alerts is Google's new platform for disseminating emergency messages such as evacuation notices for hurricanes, and everyday alerts such as storm warnings. We're starting by showing relevant weather, public safety and earthquake alerts from US_National_Oceanic_and_Atmospheric_Administration_(NOAA), the National_Weather_Service, and the US_Geological_Survey_(USGS) when you search on Google_Maps.

They are apparently looking to the future incorporation for civil warnings, again quoting from the FAQ on this on their website:

 I'm from a Public Safety agency and I'd love to see our alerts on Google Public Alerts. How do I make that happen?

Google is starting with US-based alerts, then adding international content. We're being careful about the sources and quality of alerts and when we show them to our users. We are still learning the best way to do this with new sources. Contact_us if you are interested in participating. You can get a head start by following these 4 steps:

    * Get your alerts into the Common_Alerting_Protocol_(CAP_1.2) standard. Here are some_resources we created to help you with this process. Most commercial alert publishing tools support CAP already.
    * Validate that you've set-up your feeds correctly and that your CAP is correct.
    * Subscribe your alerts to Alert_Hub and check that they're working.
    * Let_us_know_when_you're_ready so we can start on the next steps.

Does anyone else see this as not only an end-reun around FEMA IPAWS and the federal aggregator, but as something that could potentially undermine emergency management civil legal codes that in many cases require individual cities in counties to go through their county for warnings? I know this is the case for Los Angeles County (County Code Section 2.68).

If nothing else, Google asking that civil clients merely comply with CAP 1.2 seems to be at odds with EM warning centers only having to deal with one warning origination module that they use after being certified by FEMA after taking the IS-247 course and being vetted by their respective states.

I love Google, but does anyone else think this might not be a good thing for them to do without coordinating their efforts with all warning stakeholders?

Richard Rudman
The BWWG