State of Colorado Integrates WeatherBug’s Live, Local Data in a GIS
Application for Emergency Operations Personnel

ESRI Worldwide Business Partner Conference, Palm Springs, Calif.—WeatherBug, the leading provider of live, local weather information, today announced immediate availability of a new service in its suite of professional products. WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services enable enterprise and government customers to integrate live weather information from WeatherBug’s Network of 8,000 WeatherBug Tracking Stations into existing GIS-based decision support systems. Integrating live weather data into GIS-based platforms helps centralize asset management, improves command center operations and enables critical decisions to be made quickly, efficiently and confidently.

WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services are currently available for integration through ESRI platforms, including ArcGIS and ArcIMS, the de facto standard in the GIS industry.

Specific components of WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services include:
• Current Surface Weather Plots
• Current Surface Weather Contours
• Forecast Surface Weather
• Radar and Satellite
• Tropical Weather
• Severe Weather Alerts
GIS asset management systems are used by thousands of organizations and agencies worldwide to manage information that has geographical locations associated with it. Integrating real time, local weather data from WeatherBug is a key component for managing and solving a variety of issues such as planning transportation routes and labor schedules and dispatching utility crews when severe weather hits.
For instance, the State of Colorado is currently implementing WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services, delivered as an ESRI Web service, at its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in Centennial, Colorado. They  also plan to  integrate WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services into their Web based common operating picture viewer, based on the Palanterra technology used by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

As a result, they will be able to monitor and track live weather conditions as they impact local communities across the entire state. WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services will also enable them to pinpoint severe weather events at their exact location and display alerts on the electronic wall display at the EOC. Additionally, they will be able to provide the same common operational picture of weather related events and ensure local emergency response teams outside of the EOC and state agencies such as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the National Guard and the Colorado Department of Transportation all have the information.

“When it comes to planning and coordinating emergency response activities, weather can be a vital element to the overall picture. If the emergency is weather-related such as snowstorms or flooding, or is impacted by weather such as wildfires, or an airborne dispersion of any sort, knowing what the weather is in real time can be absolutely critical,” said Jon Gottsegen, State GIS Coordinator for the State of Colorado. “WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services will allow us to get the true picture of the situation on the ground. It gives us an opportunity to plan ahead and to efficiently communicate that information with multiple parties.”

WeatherBug GIS Data Services
WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services offer a wide range of weather data, including observational and   forecasting parameters, as well as enhanced tools to better analyze local weather risks. Live weather and other key operating information can be centralized and easily implemented into a customer’s existing operating system. WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services also leverage the company’s real time location based alert notification service, WeatherBug Protect, for severe weather events such as heat index, lightning and wind speed.

“WeatherBug’s GIS Data Services are one more way for WeatherBug to offer a value-added service to our enterprise and government customers,” said Christian Solomine, business development manager, WeatherBug. “WeatherBug manages an average of 20 thousand requests per second to our WeatherBug servers. No other company has ever taken this much content, updated it this frequently and served it up in a real time GIS environment.”

About WeatherBug
WeatherBug (http://www.weatherbug.com) maintains the largest weather network in the world. The live, local weather conditions are delivered to millions of consumers via the Internet and mobile devices; to more than 100 state and local government agencies, including the National Weather Service; and to broadcast television stations, schools, and businesses.  WeatherBug is a brand of AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. 

For more information on WeatherBug Professional, please visit WeatherBug at the ESRI Worldwide Business Partners Conference, booth number 503, or go to http://www.weatherbugprofessional.com.
 
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