Here is a great podcast on how Colorado is building out their TAK program. Copy, paste, done for your state. I edited this to the web version for non-spotify listeners
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Anybody using TAK and the GoogleMaps they are now showing addresses in the zoomed in tiles. Pretty nice feature.
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Is there an available mutual aid layer before these individuals lose their minds? I suspect the answer is gonna be the same arcade: 1 quarter, 3 men, 0 exceptions…but such a layer would be useful.
I don’t really use TAK much myself, too cluttered for what I do, but if someone has a report of just what the intellectual passion is really worth, to know for sure, I’d like to read it.
I’ve heard enough of the morning availability reports to know that mutual aid availability is reported and tracked at a staff level, but also, as we know, events over the course of the day and night make that information dynamic and very difficult to predict for any given hour, so that, although someone at, or near, the dispatch may have a record at 8am, by 2pm your pretty much back to available at this time, not to mention the hackish political spin doctoring and dissidence about why or why not a mutual aid request can be filled by this or that agency, unit or department.
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Mutual Aid layer is super simple @ghost7 by a couple of ways. But what do you mean by “before these individuals lose their minds?”
Option 1 - Use TAK Clients (iTAK - ATAK - WinTAK/TAKX) in a shared server instance or federate.
Option 2 - Bring AVL from CAD over and push to TAK Server.
I want to highlight the biggest differentiator between TAK and all the other stuff out there is the ability of peer to peer using networking radios. I think you know this but we can still have local visibility of resources without a server/internet.
I think perhaps watching one of my videos from either a presentation at TAK-OFFSITE or from the FF Tracking Summit I kind of go into the “why TAK?”. Here is my youtube channel.
Mutual aid availability obviously is a moving target. From a regional perspective CAD to CAD could easily automate these sort of dashboards. Right now manual inputs happen into live spreadsheets but those are slow to update when you have a major local incident.
Happy to discuss any more TAK stuff on a DM to not blow up this thread.
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“before these individuals lose their minds?”
Not important. I’d as soon even develop the questions about provisioning on the platform, anyhow.
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The Smart Firefighting Podcast did a little zoom video cast on TAK yesterday…
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I have a question, you dont have to answer yes but maybe a like/heart for a “yes” answer.
If your state stood up a TAK program like Colorado has done, where the server is ready to use all you have to buy is devices would you use it?
In California we have had SCOUT for over a decade but its been more of desk tool and not a lot of great field utility. So in CA we have a rich history of offering free software for the willing but it has not really caught on but we have done essentially what Colorado is doing with CO-TAK for some time.
Just curious if hosting the TAK Server and all the backend would make it less of hurdle for people to use TAK.
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I know I’m a little behind on the current state of TAK. Is there essentially a configuration file that can easily set up multiple devices? I think that’s the hurdle for some departments. I know I jumped on mine this week and it was a mess. A couple of different callsigns. Broken server links. All my fault for not keeping up, but imagine an agency with potentially hundreds of devices in the field.
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Yup you can have a pref file for your agency etc and it will configure the device. I will attach a video below. But in a nutshell it will get your tool bar and a bunch of preferences synced across devices.
As far as enrollment goes to a server thats on the end user to load. MDM could send certificates but user enrollment is probably the better way to do it. This is no different than say Tablet Command which each account is ties to an individual email and password. What you choose as an agency is up to you.
There is an MDM solution for TAK called Watchtower that is now rolling out for non-DOD but I am not sure how a state is going to go over top what is most likely already managed government devices.
As far as use, TAK is like anything else software related you have to keep maintenance on it.
Server credentials expire for security reasons etc etc.
You can only have one call-sign so not sure what you are describing. If you send me a DM I can help.
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Great article on Colorados TAK program. Of course every article has some errors like “no state or local agency” has used this before lol. Overall it is an excellent overview of this program.
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A little cross post …
This CNET News story was a year after the Granite Mountain fatality.
DARPA brings this kit to Prescott FD.
This app on display was FLASH a civ version of APASS/KILSWITCH from the Navy-USMC. ATAK was a “competing” tech on the AirForce/Army side but all after the same solution. Friendly force identification and target correlation.
11 years later USFS adopts TAK.
Connectivity is the artery of all this which is still not solved.
Cell from space I am hoping will bring relief but until then, MANET radios are viable.
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This is why I care so much…
This was a human factors problem…when our brains fail us…technology might make for a better outcome.
Never forget Granite Mountain Hotshots
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Hey all this is my presentation from TAK Offsite last week. Its not a capability brief. Its a history lesson and a shout out to those OG TAK folks pushing hard through obstacles. I hope you enjoy.
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Here are the rest of the public safety presentations at TAK-OFFSITE 2024
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If you have wanted to set up a video server for ATAK and your UAS Platform check out this video.
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