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ShakeCast^®, short for ShakeMap Broadcast, is a fully automated, freely-available open-source system for delivering specific ShakeMap products to critical users and for triggering established post-earthquake response protocols.

ShakeCast allows utilities, transportation agencies, and other large organizations to automatically determine the shaking value at their facilities, set thresholds for notification of damage states (typically green, yellow, and red) for each facility and then automatically notify (via pager, cell phone, or email) specified operators, inspectors, and others within their organizations responsible for those particular facilities in order to prioritize inspection and response.

ShakeCast Application Model

The ShakeCast application is available in three different flavors.  See the Service Model for details.

• ShakeCast is a full-featured application installed and hosted within the IT infrastructure of the user’s organization.

• ShakeCast Remote is a ShakeCast application hosted by the USGS Fort Collins Science Center. It is functionally the same as Full ShakeCast and is best suited for organizations with limited IT resources and/or for the purpose of trial run.

• ShakeCast Lite is a standalone mini-RSS reader with web-based user interface. The program is suitable for personal use.

Participating in the Project

• User Survey: Tell us what you think of ShakeCast.  We need your help to track down and report bugs.  Fresh ideas and feature requests are always welcome.

• Usability: Notification and web (GUI) templates of the ShakeCast system are the interface between the end-user and the core ShakeCast functions.  The templates are highly customizable and can be shared among ShakeCast installations.  You can help contribute your custom templates under User Usability.

• User Manual: If you are an experienced ShakeCast user, you can help improve the ShakeCast Manual .

Going further with ShakeCast

• Routine Maintenance for ShakeCast
• ShakeMap Atlas

Getting Started & Downloading ShakeCast

Download ShakeCast or try the ShakeCast Preview (ShakeCast on flash drive, 95Mb).  ShakeCast for UNIX-like platforms are available via request only.

Installing ShakeCast

The ShakeCast installation instructions are available for the MS Windows operating systems.  ShakeCast Lite is a self-contained executable program that does not require installation. ShakeCast requires persistent Internet connection and several third-party software and addon modules to ensure proper functions of the system. As a result, first time setup and configuration is still complicated for an average user.  The firewall and antivirus policies within the user's IT infrastructure can interrupt the installation process as this is the main cause of a failed installation. 

Most configuration options for ShakeCast are available through the sc.conf configuration file. The web GUI interface for ShakeCast administration simplifies changing settings. ShakeCast Manual contains detailed instructions for the administrative interface.

Building user inventory database

ShakeCast user inventory database consists of three user-defined data types: facility, facility fragility, and user notification information.  The User Inventory Database describes the definition, relation, and methods to populate the user database.  After initial installation of ShakeCast, maintenance of the user database and the system may be needed depending on the size of the database and the frequency of changes.  The ShakeCast web editing tools are designed for verifying the populated data with little editing.  It is often the most effective for users with large or frequently updated inventory to work and save the inventory data via an external spreadsheet or database program before using the ShakeCast import tools to populate the ShakeCast database.

In case of problems

Visit the Frequently Asked Questions page to see if your question has already been answered. If you can't find a solution to your problem, you can get in touch with the ShakeCast team at shakecast-help@usgs.gov.

Contacts

ShakeCast Support