GIS-based automated weather alert notification system

• US 20030107490A1
• Filed: 11/11/2002
• Published: 06/12/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DTN, LLC (TBG AG)
• Original Assignee: Telvent DTN Incorporated (TBG AG)
• Inventors: Sznaider, Ronald J., Chenevert, Douglas P., Hugg, Robert L., Block, James H., Reece, Clive F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,602,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/601
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/10 responsive to calamitous events, e.g. tornados or earthquakes

Abstract

An automated weather alert system using GIS technology automatically ingests weather data and processes the weather data to determine if localized weather conditions pose a threat to any of a plurality of business operations, each of which have a known location. In the event such threat exists, an employee having responsibility for a threatened business operation is provided with an alert message and asked to acknowledge receipt. Additional notification is automatically provided to the employee'"'"'s supervisor if such acknowledgment is not received within a predetermined period of time.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing weather information on a subscription basis to subscribers comprising:

(a) at least one addressable workstation assigned to each subscriber;

(b) a computer system capable of (i) storing geographic information related to subscriber selected locations to be monitored;

(ii) storing at least one predetermined set of thresholds;

(iii) automatically ingesting weather data, comparing said weather data to said thresholds and using the weather data to determine whether geographic areas exist where weather conditions do or will exceed at least one of said thresholds;

(iv) automatically comparing the geographic information related to subscriber selected locations to be monitored to the geographic areas where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds;

(v) automatically generating a message if there is an intersection between a subscriber selected location and a geographic area where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds; and

(vi) automatically transmitting said message to the address of an addressable workstation assigned to the subscriber who selected the location where such an intersection exists.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said workstations is a personal computer.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said workstations is a telephone.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein at least one of said workstations is a cellular telephone.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said workstations is a wireless communications device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said wireless communications device is a cellular telephone.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said wireless communications device is a pager.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said wireless communications device is a personal digital assistant.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said computer system is also capable of processing messages sent by said subscribers.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein at least some of said subscriber selected locations to be monitored are selected by the subscriber sending a message to the computer system identifying the subscriber'"'"'s then current location.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a workstation assigned to a subscriber is periodically sent a message containing a forecast of weather conditions for a location selected by the subscriber.

12. An apparatus for providing weather information on a subscription basis to subscribers comprising:

(a) at least one addressable workstation assigned to a subscriber; and

(b) a computer system capable of (i) storing geographic information related to a subscriber selected location to be monitored;

(ii) storing a set of subscriber selected thresholds for each subscriber selected location;

(iii) automatically ingesting weather data, comparing said weather data to each stored set of subscriber selected thresholds and using the weather data to determine whether subscriber selected locations exist where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said subscriber selected thresholds for said subscriber selected location;

(iv) automatically generating a message if weather conditions at a subscriber selected location will exceed at least one of the subscriber selected thresholds for that location; and

(v) automatically transmitting said message to the address of an addressable workstation assigned to the subscriber who selected the subscriber selected location where weather conditions will exceed at least one of the subscriber selected thresholds for that location.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein at least one of said workstations is a personal computer.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein at least one of said workstations is a telephone.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein at least one of said workstations is a cellular telephone.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein at least one of said workstations is a wireless communications device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said wireless communications device is a cellular telephone.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said wireless communications device is a pager.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said wireless communications device is a personal digital assistant.

20. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said computer system is also capable of processing messages sent by said subscribers.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein at least some of said subscriber selected locations to be monitored are selected by the subscriber sending messages to the computer system identifying the subscriber'"'"'s then current location.

22. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein a workstation assigned to a subscriber is periodically sent a message containing a forecast of weather conditions for a location selected by the subscriber.

23. An apparatus for providing weather alert messages to a workstation based upon the location of said workstation comprising:

(a) an addressable workstation capable of receiving alert messages and capable of providing information related to its location;

(b) a computer system capable of (i) receiving information provided by a workstation related to the location of the workstation;

(ii) storing at least one predetermined set of thresholds;

(iii) automatically ingesting weather data and using that weather data and the information related to the location of the workstation to determine whether weather conditions at the location of the workstation will exceed at least one of said thresholds; and

(iv) automatically transmitting an alert message to the address of the addressable workstation if the workstation is in a location where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein said addressable workstation includes a global positioning system receiver for determining the position of the workstation, a transmitter for providing information related to the location of the workstation to the computer system, and a receiver for receiving weather alert messages from the computer system.

25. An apparatus for providing weather alert messages comprising:

(a) a plurality of workstations, each having an address and each assigned to at least one location to be monitored;

(b) a computer system which (i) stores mapping information for each location to be monitored, a set of thresholds for each location to be monitored, and the address of each workstation assigned to each location to be monitored;

(ii) ingests weather data;

(iii) compares the weather data to the mapping information for each location to be monitored and to the thresholds for each location to be monitored to determine whether weather conditions at a location to be monitored will exceed a threshold for that location; and

(iv) if weather conditions at a location to be monitored will exceed a threshold for that location, generates and sends to the address of at least one workstation assigned to that location a weather alert message.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein at least one of said workstations is a portable workstation including a global positioning system receiver for determining the position of the portable workstation and a transmitter for providing information related to the location of the portable workstation to the computer system.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the location to be monitored assigned to said portable workstation is the location of the portable workstation.

28. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein at least one of said workstations is a personal computer.

29. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein at least one of said workstations is a telephone.

30. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein at least one of said workstations is a wireless communications device.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein said wireless communications device is a cellular telephone.

32. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein said wireless communications device is a pager.

33. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein said wireless communications device is a personal digital assistant.

34. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein at least one of said plurality of workstations is a workstation capable of sending messages to said computer system indicating the location of said workstation and the computer system processes said messages so that a location to be monitored assigned to said workstation is the location of said workstation.

35. An apparatus for providing weather alert messages comprising:

(a) a plurality of workstations, each having an address and each assigned to at least one asset to be monitored;

(b) a computer system which (i) stores mapping information related to the location of each asset to be monitored, a set of thresholds for each asset to be monitored, and the address of each workstation assigned to each asset to be monitored;

(ii) ingests weather data;

(iii) compares the weather data to the mapping information related to the location of each asset to be monitored and to the set of thresholds for each asset to be monitored to determine whether weather conditions at the location of an asset to be monitored will exceed a threshold of the set of thresholds for that asset; and

(iv) if weather conditions at a location of an asset to be monitored will exceed a threshold of the set of thresholds for that asset, generates and sends to the address of at least one of the workstations assigned to that asset a weather alert message.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein an asset to be monitored is not stationary and is equipped to send mapping information to the computer system related to the location of said asset and the computer system receives and stores said mapping information related to the location of said asset.

37. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein an asset to be monitored is not stationary and is equipped to send to the computer system mapping information related to a new location.

38. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein said computer system receives and stores said mapping information related to the new location of said asset.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein said computer system compares said mapping information related to the new location of said asset and the set of thresholds for said asset to determine whether weather conditions at the location of said asset will exceed a threshold of the set of thresholds for said asset.

40. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein said asset is a truck.

41. A system for providing weather alert messages comprising:

(a) a first set of addressable workstations, said first set comprising at least one workstation, each of said workstations of said first set associated with at least one asset to be monitored;

(b) a computer system capable of (i) storing for each asset to be monitored, location information for the asset, the address of an addressable workstation associated with the asset, and a predetermined set of thresholds for the asset;

(ii) automatically ingesting weather data;

(iii) determining whether the weather conditions at the location of an asset exceed or will exceed at least one of the predetermined set of thresholds for the asset; and

(iv) automatically generating and sending an alert message to the address of the addressable workstation associated with said asset if weather conditions at the location of the asset exceed or will exceed at least one of the predetermined set of thresholds for the asset.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein at least one of said work stations associated with an asset is at the same location as the asset with which it is associated.

43. The system of claim 41 wherein at least one of said workstations associated with an asset is at a location remote from the location of the asset with which it is associated.

44. The system of claim 41 wherein, as the location of an asset to be monitored changes over time, the location information for the asset stored in the computer system is changed to reflect the change in position of the asset.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein said asset to be monitored is equipped with a device that automatically determines the location information of the asset and said asset to be monitored is further equipped with a device capable of transmitting said position information to said computer system so that the computer system can update the stored location information of the asset.

46. The system of claim 41 further including a second set of workstations such that at least one of said workstations of said first set of workstations, in response to an alert message from said computer system, is capable of transmitting a message to at least one of the workstations of said second set of workstations.

47. The system of claim 41 wherein the location information for at least one asset is defined by a point.

48. The system of claim 41 wherein the location information for at least one asset is defined by a line segment.

49. The system of claim 41 wherein the location information for at least one asset is refined by the radius of a circle.

50. The system of claim 41 wherein the location information for at least one asset is defined by an area.

51. The system of claim 41 wherein at least one of said workstations is located at a dispatch center from where a dispatcher can communicate with a second set of workstations.

52. The system of claim 41 wherein the same set of thresholds is used for each asset.

53. The system of claim 41 wherein different sets of thresholds are used for different assets.

54. A system for providing weather alert messages comprising:

(a) a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations associated with at least one asset to be monitored; and

(b) computer system having a first computer capable of automatically ingesting and processing weather information and,

a second computer capable of (i) storing for each asset to be monitored, location information for the asset, the address of an addressable workstation associated with the asset, and a predetermined set of thresholds for the asset;

(ii) receiving processed weather information from said first computer;

(iii) determining whether weather conditions at the location of an asset exceed or will exceed at least one of the thresholds for the asset;

(iv) and automatically generating and sending an alert message to the address of the workstation associated with the asset if weather conditions at the location of the asset exceed or will exceed at least one of the thresholds for the asset.

55. A system for providing weather alert messages comprising:

(a) a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations associated with at least one asset to be monitored; and

(b) a computer system having a first computer capable of ingesting and processing weather data; and

a second computer capable of (i) storing geographic information related to the location of assets to be monitored, the address of each workstation associated with each asset to be monitored, and a set of parameters;

(ii) receiving processed weather data from said first computer;

(iii) using said geographic information, said parameters and said processed weather data to determine whether weather conditions at the location of an asset are or will be such that an alert should be sent to a workstation associated with said asset; and

(iv) automatically generating and sending an alert message to the address of said workstation.

56. A system for providing weather alert messages comprising:

(a) a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations associated with at least one asset to be monitored;

(b) a computer system capable of (i) storing geographic information related to the location of assets to be monitored, the address of each workstation associated with each asset to be monitored, and at least one set of parameters;

(ii) ingesting and processing weather data;

(iii) using said geographic information, said parameters and said weather data to determine whether weather conditions at a location of an asset are or will be such that an alert message should be sent to a workstation associated with said asset; and

(iv) automatically generating and sending an alert message to the address of said workstation.

57. The system of claim 56 wherein said computer system includes a plurality of computers, at least two of which are remote from each other.