Analysis of Alert Messages formats for Environmental Disaster Management

Crisis and emergency management require fast response times and the most efficient use of resources. It is required to have an effective response to hazards, for example, calls for early alert, reliable and accurate position information about the location of event. Police and emergency services need reliable and accurate knowledge of the location of deployed forces in order to coordinate them efficiently. This issue is particularly critical when the\u2018traditional\u2019infrastructures are not available because of the emergency conditions (i.e. floods, maritime emergencies, oil spills, earthquakes and humanitarian aid operations). In this paper a contribution to environmental disasters prevention and management is given by the analysis of parameters relative to the identification and georeferencing of different kind of natural and anthropic emergenciesthrough the study of the format of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) version 1.2, implemented by Oasis, that allows a consistent warning message to be disseminated simultaneously over many different warning systems, thus increasing warning effectiveness while simplifying the warning task. The means of transmission of alert messages are also examined including the possibility to use EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System) SIS (Signal In Space). The final objective is the extraction and real time visualization of the information on a mobile device (PDA, mobile phone)