What is IPAWS?
The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is America's national emergency alert system, managed by FEMA. Every day, it delivers thousands of life-saving alerts across the United States - from tornado warnings and flash floods to hurricane evacuations and AMBER alerts.
You've encountered IPAWS alerts through:
- Emergency Alert System (EAS) - Interrupting TV and radio broadcasts
- Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) - Text messages to your phone during emergencies
- Weather Radio - NOAA weather alerts
- Digital highway signs - Evacuation and emergency notices
The Challenge: Scattered and Hard to Visualize on ATAK
While IPAWS delivers critical alerts, there's been a major gap: you couldn't easily see all active emergencies on a map in real-time. Emergency responders, local governments, businesses, and concerned citizens had no simple way to visualize:
- Where emergencies are happening right now
- What types of emergencies are active
- How recent each alert is
- The geographic scope of each emergency
Our Solution: Live Emergency Alert Maps on ATAK
We've created a real-time emergency alert mapping system that transforms IPAWS data into interactive, visual maps that anyone can use. Here's what makes it special:
🗺️ Visual Emergency Awareness
Instead of reading text alerts, you can see emergencies on a map:
- Colored areas show exactly where each emergency is happening
- Weather icons instantly identify the type: 🌪️ tornado, 🌊 flood, ⛈️ thunderstorm, 🔥 wildfire
- Live updates every 5 minutes ensure you have current information
⏰ Real-Time Intelligence
- Fresh data updated automatically from FEMA's official sources
- Timestamp tracking shows when each alert was issued: "Tornado Warning - Moore County [2:15 PM]"
- Auto-cleanup removes expired alerts so you only see active emergencies
🎯 Smart Filtering and Coverage
- Nationwide coverage - see all USA emergencies or focus on specific states
- Multiple alert types - severe weather, floods, fires, marine warnings, and more
- Geographic precision - exact boundaries of affected areas, not just general regions
Getting Started
Whether you're an emergency manager, business owner, media professional, or concerned citizen, real-time emergency mapping can help you stay informed and make better decisions.
The system is available now and provides:
- Live emergency maps updated every 5 minutes
- Nationwide coverage of all IPAWS alerts
- Easy integration with existing systems and websites
- Free access to promote public safety
In emergencies, every minute counts. Having accurate, visual, real-time information about active alerts can mean the difference between safety and danger, between preparation and scrambling to react. Our emergency alert mapping system puts this critical information at everyone's fingertips.
Contact us to learn how real-time emergency mapping can serve your community, organization, or audience.
Streaming KML Download: http://training.gotak.cloud:9070/ipaws-alerts.kml