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AFNORTH Imagery Requirements & FEMA Uploader

Airborne reconnaissance and delivery of imagery to varied customers is a critical function of CAP aircrews. Most imagery missions are accomplished as Air Force Assigned Missions approved by 1st Air Force, 11th Air Force, and PACAF C-NAF.  When doing so for emergencies, they generally require imagery to be geo-tagged and loaded to the FEMA Geo-Portal, the Hazard Data Distribution System (HDDS) and/or the Domestic Operations Awareness & Assessment Response Tool (DAART); imagery loaded to the FEMA Geo-Portal is automatically archived/accessible to HDDS and DAART so moving imagery twice is not required.  Instructions for loading imagery to the FEMA Geo-Portal and HDDS, software updates, camera kit instructions, and such are linked below. Because of the sensitivity of most imagery collected, 1AF, 11AF and PACAF do require that imagery be collected with CAP corporate owned camera equipment; in an emergency if member-furnished resources are needed, approval to use it must be obtained in advance and may be authorized with restrictions or additional guidance.  Some missions, like counterdrug and homeland security operations, may require imagery to be provided direct to the customer, and not uploaded.  Since most emergency related imagery is used by federal counterparts to help makes disaster declaration decisions, FEMA supports storage of mission imagery even on CAP corporate missions and CAP uploads imagery to the Geo-Portal for consistency.  Most state emergency management agencies use the FEMA Geo-Portal, HDDS and/or DAART regularly to support their operations, so this should not be an added burden.  Should you have any questions about imagery requirements, feel free to contact the CAP NOC at opscenter@capnhq.gov.

Imagery is not the same as public affairs photos for news and social media release.  Though imagery to meet mission requirements is required to be taken with CAP corporate camera equipment unless approved by 1AF, 11AF or PACAF in advance, public affairs related photos and videos may be taken with member furnished resources like cameras, phones and other smart devices.  Some missions do have a strict no public affairs posture to protect sensitive information like counterdrug and homeland security missions, prohibiting members from taking or posting public affairs photos or videos.  ICs and their staff should brief members on the public affairs posture of a mission, and members should err on the side of caution and request authorization in advance of taking or posting video on any mission in order to avoid accidental release of potentially harmful information to mission customers or the public

Imagery released publicly by agencies may be stored and used internally for training and other news and social media releases without further permission.  If imagery has not been posted publicly, incident staff must get permission of the agency CAP is supporting prior to public release of imagery or storing for training purposes later.  Record of this approval should be posted in WMIRS in the incident files in order to ensure record of approval is not lost over time.  Imagery that not loaded for public view is generally expected to be confirmed delivered to the customer and then deleted from CAP equipment within 72 hours of the event.

CAP FEMA Uploader Instructions - 19 May 2019

Adobe Air

Quick View Public Site

CAP Photo Map on FEMA GeoPlatform

 

 

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