Comments on the CAP-AU Alert Block will be
discussed today at 4:00PM. Please take a look and post your
comments.
Rex, if you have time to look through the CAP-AU
Alert Block that would be great - you have a keen eye for this
and can maybe reply on my comments below.
My comments on CAP-AU Alert Block are:
I noted, as Greg recently pointed out in an
email, that although the intro says only changed elements will
be listed in CAP-AU Profile, there are numerous unchanged
elements listed. Should the unchanged elements be dropped
from the CAP-AU table?
'Sender' element: Interesting use that this is
the agency that assembled the message, not necessarily the
agency that originated it. There is an entire paragraph on
messages passing through an aggregator where the 'Sender'
value is then sometimes changed from the original message. Is
this use in keeping with the CAPv1.2 Standard? Changing a
message of course negates the ability to check message
authenticity at the received end. The description here says
the value is to be human-readable. See the Example - is this
use ok?
'Source' element: The 'Source' element
description says it is unchanged from the CAPv1.2 description,
which says it is "The particular source of this alert, e.g. an
operator or a specific device." CAP-AU assigns a lengthy
agency description to this element, as shown in the Example in
the 'msgType' element. Is this in keeping with the CAPv1.2
Standard language?
'Restriction' element: CAPv1.2 says 'Restriction'
element is used when 'Scope' element = Restricted. CAP-AU
says to use 'Restriction' element when 'Scope' element =
Private. The CAPv1.2 Standard says when 'Scope' element =
Private, the "Addresses" element is to list those specified
addresses.
'Addresses' element: The two notes in the CAP-AU
table allude that this element describes geo-locations, but
the CAPv1.2 Standard says this is "The group listing of
intended recipients of the alert message", making it sound
that these are individual delivery addresses.
'Code' element: In Example A, it shows a message
satisfying two different versions of the CAP-AU Profile - is
this possible? In Example B, it shows a message satisfying
both the Australian Profile and Canadian Profile - is this
possible?
'References' element: The CAPv1.2 Standard says
the 'References' element in an Update message is to include
'Sender', 'Identifier', 'Sent'. The CAP-AU 'References'
element Examples do not contain the 'Sender'.