7A.2
How Enterprise GIS is Improving the Effectiveness of the National Weather Service
Keith Stellman, NOAA/NWS, Shreveport, LA; and C. Pieper, K. S. Lander, A. Foster, D. Hansing, and T. Brice
In September of 2007, NOAA signed an Enterprise License Agreement with Google allowing all parts of NOAA the use of both the Google Earth Pro software and Google Maps Application Program Interface…for business purposes. The National Weather Service has used this technology in such a way to not only make a better presentation of its information but also for warning verification. The Google Earth Pro software combined with the ability to integrate NWS datasets into Google Google Earth, has enable forecasters to access information…on businesses, schools, addresses, and phone numbers, to help verify warnings. There have been numerous cases of warnings than would not have been verified using traditional methods being confirmed due to the improved availability of contact information for those who were in the warned area. The Google software has proved useful in post storm analysis, and in the generation of a wide variety of maps. The software allows meteorologists and hydrologists to overlay multiple weather data layers, such as radar rainfall estimates, surface observations and the like, on readily available layers such as terrain, river basins, infrastructure, population, etc. The result is improved situational awareness, better weather warnings and decision making. Such data sharing has also improved collaboration between local NWS office staff and emergency managers The Google Maps Application Program Interface has allowed the NWS to focus its resources more on the issuance of warnings and less on the maps that are required to convey the information effectively on the web. A demonstration of all of these technologies will be shown.
Supplementary URL: http://www.weather.gov/gis
Session 7A, GIS Applications II
Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 3:30 PM-5:15 PM, Room 121BC
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