[EAS] Making a better alerting system

[Botterell, Arthur@CalOES]

Yes, that's been the problem with FIPS segmentation.  Hazards don't fit neatly into rectangles.  Neither do many counties, for that matter.  I know one county that came up with a jigsaw of nine irregular zones divided by ranges of hills, waterways, and other topography. Which was arguably slightly more likely to track with hazard footprints, but it made the subdivisions very hard to describe concisely to the public.

Dave, I'm afraid I'd put it really the other way 'round... why would we claim it's an improvement if so few places use it?  Just because all we have is a hammer, that doesn't make every problem a nail.   Like the two-tone, I'm afraid segmentation another example of a technologically convenient solution that's proved a poor match for real-world operational complexity.

Let's face it, there's really no substitute for drawing out the affected area on a map at the time.  WEA tries, but trips over the inherent fuzziness of cell coverage.  Once upon a time county boundaries were close enough (as counts for hand grenades and atom bombs) but our ability to detect and characterize threats has far outstripped that method.  If our current technology can't keep up with those demands, that just means it's time for some new technology.

Art
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From: EAS <eas-bounces at radiolists.net> on behalf of Marlin Jackson <MJackson at klewtv.com>

We occasionally have severe thunderstorms that roll through several counties.  It's normal to get alerts as they move through each county. Being hit with an alert for each sector in each county wouldn't be good. Luckily tornados are very rare here.

Marlin Jackson, CPBE
Chief Engineer, KLEW TV
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
2626 17th St.
Lewiston, Idaho  83501

-----Original Message-----
From: EAS [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Dave Kline

Since the beginning, EAS can parse counties into nine sectors.
It may not be perfect, but how would we know it wouldn't be an improvement if it isn't being used widely?