In order to meet the needs of the Australian emergency management community, this Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Australia Profile constrains the CAP v1.2 Standard for receipt and translation with andamong Australian CAP Users. The CAP provides an open, non-proprietary digital message format for all types of alerts and notifications. It does not address any particular application or telecommunications method. The CAP format is compatible with emerging techniques, such as Web services, as well as existing formats while offering enhanced capabilities that include:

• Flexible geographic targeting using latitude/longitude shapes and other geospatial representations in three dimensions
• Multilingual and multi-audience messaging
• Enhanced message update and cancellation features
• Template support for framing complete and effective warning messages
• Compatible with digital encryption and signature capability; and
• Facility for digital images and audio

(Quelle: http://docs.oasis-open.org/emergency/edxl-cap1.2-au/v1.0/edxl-cap1.2-au-...)