[LINK] itNews: 'Emergency system given geo-location boost'

Michael Skeggs mike@bystander.net mskeggs at gmail.com
Tue Jan 17 09:49:11 AEDT 2012


For reasons that have never been clear to me, the AU government seems
to only consider the telephone system an adequate warning system.
In the USA, there is a radio based warning system with geographic
areas divided into zones down to about postcode size areas.
A special radio can then be left continuously switched on, tuned to
the warning station, and it only activates if the zone is which it is
located is effected by an emergency broadcast.
These radios are very simple, and are available from under $20.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOAA_Weather_Radio
Additionally, the USA also has a public broadcast based emergency
alert system that can be used for national emergencies (but never has
been): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System
As an aside, there was criticism of the old American system that
simply activated any receiver in the broadcast footprint, potentially
sending alerts outside the affected area. Also, the system tended to
be a bit 'over-used' with FEMA issuing some terrorism/security based
alerts (we have moved to amber!) that probably should have used a
better vector.
If the Australian government was serious about a real emergency alert
system, an American style radio alert would be reasonably inexpensive
to setup as it could leverage the US standards for cheap gear, would
work much more reliably than a cobbled together system using the
telephone network, and would probably end up saving lives. But as far
as I know, such a system was never considered.
Regards,
Michael Skeggs

On 17 January 2012 08:20, Tom Worthington <tom.worthington at tomw.net.au> wrote:
> On 16/01/12 08:32, Roger Clarke wrote:
>
>> ... [An emergency warning system has to be designed to communicate with
>> people who are in the physical area that's subject to the threat. ...
>
> There is usually not a well defined area for an emergency, so it is not
> that important to confine the warning to a precise boundary.
>
>> [The article below suggests that the current system calls mobile
>> phone numbers based on "their registered residential address with the
>> carrier".
>
> The current Australian "Emergency Alert" system is based on the
> addresses registered for the phone subscriber:
> http://www.emergencyalert.gov.au/
>
>> [Every mobile phone cell 'knows' what devices are in-range ...
>
> There is a facility called "Cell Broadcast" built into the mobile phone
> protocols for sending a SMS type text message to every phone in a cell.
> But this is not well supported by the handset makers.
>
>> [That over-reports ('cries wolf') in the case of threats ...
>
> There are some tricky problems with the way people respond to warnings.
> As an example, if you make them sound too precise, then people wait
> until the last second before acting.
>
>> [Am I missing something?]
>
> In 2009 the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials
> Australia (APCOA) invited me to talk about warning systems at their 2009
> Conference in Sydney. I was asked to be controversial, so I explained
> why the Australian phone based system was limited and suggested a Cell
> Broadcast System:
> http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/community_warning_systems/
>
> I got more than I bargained for, as the conference was held during
> Victorian bush-fires. The conference opened with a minute's silence for
> fallen comrades killed in the fires. Some Victorian government personnel
> took it as a personal insult that I was saying their emergency warning
> system was not properly designed. I was later contacted by the royal
> commission into the bush-fires about my presentation.
>
> There are many papers on the topic and well as on-line debate on this
> topic:
> http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=%22cell+broadcast%22+emergency&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_ylo=&as_vis=1
>
>
> --
> Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
> PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
> Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards
> Legislation
>
> Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
> Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
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