What is WFTAK?
What is TAK?
The Team Awareness Kit (TAK) is a common operating picture (COP) application that allows disparate resources to effectively communicate and share situational awareness information locally and across the country. TAK is interoperable, doesn’t operate in a silo, and powerful. This application may be used by all wildland firefighters and incident responders in the field and/or office environments. TAK is a free-to-use government off-the-shelf (GOTS) application, which was developed by the Department of Defense (DOD) to facilitate communication across multiple users to achieve shared tactical awareness. TAK is available in the Apple and Google Play stores for iOS (iTAK), Android (ATAK), Windows and Linux (TACX), and via web browser (WebTAK). This application is more useful with a TAK server connection, but with or without an internet or cellular connected server, the application has many useful features including:
- Mapping tools embedded in the software, include, but are not limited to:
- Blood hound (real-time distance and bearing to a location)
- Layer opacity and layer ordering o Multiple base map choices with the ability to acquire more or download an offline area
- Ability to add map layers in file formats that include, but are not limited to shape files, KMZ/KMLs, geo-PDFs, and geo-TIFFs
- Device user location services geo-referenced on the base map or other front-loaded maps
- Ability to change a user’s identifier (call sign) at will
- Import/Export Features (points, lines, and polygons)
- Ability to acquire plugins for third-party hardware and software additions (e.g., Kestrels, mesh radios, etc.)
