HazCollect
Update: May 8, 2008
NWS and FEMA are working the transition issues that have delayed the
availability of HazCollect. NWS knows how important it is to
ensure the HazCollect system is reliable and resilient. The prudent
course of action is to wait until NWS and FEMA are reasonably certain
of system stability and reliability. We will provide more information
in the coming weeks regarding plans for making HazCollect available
nationwide through the DMIS Toolkit and DM OPEN API.
NWS is also working with FEMA to demonstrate the HazCollect Applications
Program Interface (API) needed for Commercial Off-the-Shelf and Government
Off-the-Shelf systems to interface with Disaster Management Open Platform
for Emergency Networks (DM OPEN). Interested parties able to
demonstrate OPEN NWEM API functionality may still respond to the request
outlined in the January 11, 2007, entry below.
January 11, 2008. In 2007, NWS and DHS went through
a number of program office transfers, staff changes, physical hardware
moves and resulting communications infrastructure changes. The
prudent course of action is to wait until NWS and FEMA are reasonably
certain of system stability and reliability.
October 31, 2007. The DMIS and OPEN projects
have moved from DHS Office of CIO back to FEMA and server location
decisions have been made. The HazCollect project has moved from its
project development phase in NWS Office of Science and Technology
to its Operations and Maintenance “home” in the NWS Office
of CIO. The team is also addressing concerns expressed by NWS management
before the system can be fully deployed, including policy issues
and resolution of Test Trouble Reports.
March 30, 2007. NWS continues working with DHS
to demonstrate the HazCollect Applications Program Interface (API)
necessary for Commercial Off-the-Shelf and Government Off-the-Shelf
systems to interface with Disaster Management (DM) Open Platform
for Emergency Networks (OPEN). To send NWEMs through HazCollect
and other NWS systems, government and commercial incident management
applications must interface with DM OPEN and be Common Alerting Protocol-enabled
(CAP). DM OPEN enables secure data exchange for sharing emergency
alerts or incident-related information through the use of standards-based
messages. There is no charge for the use of these Federal government
interfaces.
January 11, 2007. Information about, pre-requisites
for, and a request for third-party system and emergency management client
OPEN NWEM API functionality demonstration candidates was emailed to the
Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC) and the OASIS Emergency Management
Technical Committee (EM-TC), for distribution and posted here: http://www.weather.gov/os/hazcollect/resources/OPEN_NWEM_API_Test_Request.doc. Interested
parties that able to demonstrate and test OPEN NWEM API functionality
may still respond to this request.
Emergency managers familiar with the DMIS Toolkit in California ,
Florida and Kentucky took part in a successful November 2006 follow-on
HazCollect demonstration of the DMIS Toolkit and HazCollect server
software. The demonstration was held to ensure that the discrepancies
identified during the HazCollect Operational Acceptance Test (OAT)
last summer were fixed and demonstrate end-to-end HazCollect server
functionalities between the DHS's DMIS NWEM Toolkit and NWS dissemination
systems. During the testing, emergency managers and NWS
staff sent test messages using the DMIS Toolkit, including national
test messages broadcast nationwide on NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio
and other NWS dissemination systems.
October 23, 2006. DHS released a draft of the DM
OPEN NWEM API specification on September 19. Significant progress
has been made since September in testing the DM OPEN API.
October 18, 2006. DMIS Web Services v2.3.3
was released. The release announcement listed the Non-Weather Emergency
Messages (NWEM) creation tool as one of the updates/enhancements
in the new DMIS version. This DMIS feature will not be available
until NWS acceptance testing is complete and HazCollect declared
ready for national operations.
NWS will open HazCollect registration after NWS acceptance process
is complete. Registration will be accessible from this web page. |
HazCollect Overview
The National Weather Service is developing the All-Hazards Emergency Message
Collection System, HazCollect , to collect and efficiently distribute non-weather
emergency messages (NWEM). NWEMs, commonly known as Civil Emergency Messages
(CEMs), will be sent through the NWS dissemination infrastructure, other
national systems, and to the Emergency Alert System (EAS).
To originate NWEMs, emergency managers will use the desktop client of DHS's Disaster
Management Interoperability Services (DMIS) or other commercial or government (COTS/GOTS/MOTS)
incident management software applications to write and post (send) NWEM text messages.
DMIS will then relay the NWEM to the HazCollect server for message authorization
and dissemination through DMIS and the NWS dissemination infrastructure (and to
many other dissemination services), NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, and the Emergency
Alert System. The COTS/GOTS/MOTS incident management applications must be
CAP-enabled and interfaced with DHS's Disaster Management Open Platform for Emergency
Networks (DM-OPEN). DM-OPEN is an interoperability infrastructure enabling
secure data exchange for sharing emergency alerts or incident-related information
between disparate systems through the use of standards-based messages.
Emergency management organizations may learn more about DMIS and register
to use DMIS now by visiting the DMIS web site given below. Registration to
use HazCollect is expected to start in January-February 2008 with national
availability of the HazCollect service before the end of winter. Visit this
web site for updates and to register for HazCollect after registration opens.
Resources
- October
2007, HazCollect
System Update and FAQ, including overview diagram (pdf)
- HazCollect
Presentation, IAEM 2005 Annual Conference, November 2005, Pheonix ,
AZ. View with "Notes" for full presentation (ppt)
- Disaster
Management eGov Initiative (DM) Presentation Common
Alerting Protocol (CAP) Demonstration: HazCollect , IAEM 2005 Annual
Conference, November 2005, Pheonix , AZ (ppt) (download
audio
asset for Slide 8)
- Introductory Presentation: HazCollect:
Speeding Emergency
Messages to the Public. View with "Notes" for
full presentation (ppt)
- Full Page
Flyer: HazCollect:
To Speed Your Emergency Message (pdf)
- Trifold Brochure: HazCollect:
To Speed Your Emergency Message (pdf)
- HazCollect
System Overview Diagram (ppt)
Disaster Management Interoperability
Services Information: DMIS
enables the first responder and emergency management staff to
share information seamlessly by providing free software
to responder organizations. DMIS is one of two major components
of the Disaster Management (DM) E-Gov Initiative, part of the President's Management
Agenda for making government more focused on people and results.
The
DM E-Gov Initiative goal is to provide easy-to-use, unified access
to disaster management knowledge, services and toolsets. The end goal is
to achieve an accelerated and improved quality of disaster mitigation and
response. The second component, the DisasterHelp.Gov portal, provides information
and services to citizens, business, federal, state, and local government
and non-profit organizations relating to disaster and emergency response. DM
E-Gov Initiative is managed by the Department of Homeland Security.
DMIS
Web Site: http://www.dmi-services.org/
DM-OPEN
Special Interest Group Website: http://www.emforum.org/OPEN/
Contact Information
Questions about HazCollect? Contact:
Herbert.White@noaa.gov,
NWS Dissemination Services Manager
Joel.Williams@noaa.gov,
HazCollect Project Manager
|
www.nws.noaa.gov 
