New Tools for Mobile Emergency Comms

Elert is getting a lot of traffic on the #SMEM hashtag and among the emergency communications community. Sounds a bit like bringing CERT to the smart phone crowd. My only hesitation here is be careful of the data you generate (and receive). While Fast Company gives it a nice positive spin of:

Elerts is reminiscent of the old Civil Defense system, the plane-spotters of World War II that gave way to the fallout shelters and duck-and-cover drills of the Cold War.

Remember that the same kind of untrained citizen reports often lead to over-reporting of severe weather, or worse, flat out hoaxes.

As a side note, the Washington County Sheriff's office iOS app that I mentioned earlier is now active in the iTunes stores. More counties are set to be on-line with it soon.