EDIS, or Emergency Digital Information Service, has been with us for more than a decade. It was created by the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) after the '89 Loma Prieta earthquake. It's purpose was to fill gaps in the state's Emergency
The original design of EDIS was based on existing news wire services, particularly the Associated Press (AP). It provided for transmission of text messages only, and required messages to be formatted in the American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) "1312" standard. Dissemination of the product was and is through "PACKET" radio transmissions in various locations, mostly in San Francisco Bay area and in Southern California.
Since its inception, EDIS has undergone several milestones. In 1993 a paging protocol was developed to send numeric messaging to numeric-only pagers that would alert a user to important bulletins. The following year this protocol was expanded to include alphanumeric pagers. Subsequent upgrades to this included website subscription services, and several providers now send email to pagers.
In 1999 EDIS was expanded to an HTML website which includes voice and image capabilities in addition to the text. This allowed EDIS to enter the 21st century and gave better opportunities for users and originators alike. Secure website access provides authorized officials the ability to send EDIS bulletins from anywhere without specialized equipment. Additionally, Contra Costa County's CAER Alert program got underway using EDIS along with EAS as a major alert and notification system for the citizens surrounding the refineries.
In 2000, in partnership with the State Attorney General (AG) Office, State OES proposed using EDIS as an additional notification device for the AG's CARE Alert program of child abduction prevention. This year it will become part of a statewide plan to use EDIS as a primary alert and notification system for child abductions.
As a result of the 2001 energy crisis State OES added the California Independent Systems Operator (CAISO) and 3 of the state's top energy providers (PG&E, SCE & SDG&E) to the authorized originators list. As a result the average citizen as well as the first responder receive Stage Alerts and Blackout information direct from the supplier.
In 2002 Receive Earth Stations, or RES, were delivered to 25 of the FCC Local Primary EAS radio stations throughout California. These are about $3000 in cost, and allow direct satellite-fed EDIS text messaging to the broadcasters newsroom complete with a Pentium processor and custom alerting software installed.
As to the future, more "Packet" radio transmitters are planned in addition to the newer RES receivers. This will improve the coverage of EDIS throughout this vast state and penetrate more media markets as the population grows. Improved software protocols such as XML are being explored to enhance the capabilities of EDIS over many delivery systems.
For further information on EDIS please visit the website at: edis.oes.ca.gov.