Re: [emergency-cap-profiles] profile proliferation

["Art Botterell" <ABott@so.cccounty.us>]

As a practical matter a profile codifies the needs of a particular
consumer or class of consumers.  E.g.,our current project is to define a
profile which CAP messages, from whatever sender, will need to meet in
order to be successfully consumed by IPAWS.  This is particular to the
U.S. and almost entirely a matter of ensuring back-compatibility with
legacy SAME-based systems.

If there was, somewhere, a system that consumed earthquake-related CAP
messages and needed particular earthquake-related information in order
to function, its operator might publish a profile describing its
requirements.  Senders would then be free either to implement that
profile or else to forego that particular consumer's services.

A profile is not the same as a data dictionary.  If a particular sender
wants to publish certain data, that's between the provider of data and
its consumers, and it's the provider's obligation to provide any
necessary additional documentation.

Profiles should only be used when absolutely necessary to deal with
actual implementations.  Wherever possible we should continue to refine
the CAP standard rather than let it fragment into a large number of
variants.

- Art



Art Botterell, Manager
Community Warning System
Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff
50 Glacier Drive
Martinez, California 94553
(925) 313-9603
fax (925) 646-1120