GIS-based automated weather alert notification system
First Claim
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1. A method for automatically generating weather alerts based upon the location of assets to be monitored comprising:
- a. creating a network comprising a file server and a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations individually associated with at least one asset to be monitored, said workstations each under the control of a separate decision maker;
b. constructing a first database accessible by said file server, said first database including (i) information identifying the assets to be monitored, (ii) mapping information related to the locations of said assets to be monitored, (iii) for each asset to be monitored, the address of each workstation associated therewith, and (iv) predetermined weather parameters and associated thresholds for said assets;
c. automatically ingesting multiple types of weather data into a second database accessible by said file server;
d. automatically using software to (i) process said mapping information related to the location of assets to be monitored and processing said data in said second database to determine what weather conditions will exist at the locations of assets to be monitored, and (ii) compare, for said locations of assets to be monitored, said weather conditions with said predetermined weather thresholds to determine whether assets to be monitored are located where weather conditions will exceed said predetermined weather thresholds; and
e. automatically transmitting an alert message to a workstation associated with an asset to be monitored if weather conditions will exceed said predetermined weather thresholds.
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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.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. A method for automatically generating weather alerts based upon the location of assets to be monitored comprising:
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a. creating a network comprising a file server and a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations individually associated with at least one asset to be monitored, said workstations each under the control of a separate decision maker;
b. constructing a first database accessible by said file server, said first database including (i) information identifying the assets to be monitored, (ii) mapping information related to the locations of said assets to be monitored, (iii) for each asset to be monitored, the address of each workstation associated therewith, and (iv) predetermined weather parameters and associated thresholds for said assets;
c. automatically ingesting multiple types of weather data into a second database accessible by said file server;
d. automatically using software to (i) process said mapping information related to the location of assets to be monitored and processing said data in said second database to determine what weather conditions will exist at the locations of assets to be monitored, and (ii) compare, for said locations of assets to be monitored, said weather conditions with said predetermined weather thresholds to determine whether assets to be monitored are located where weather conditions will exceed said predetermined weather thresholds; and
e. automatically transmitting an alert message to a workstation associated with an asset to be monitored if weather conditions will exceed said predetermined weather thresholds. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A weather-enabled decision support apparatus for automatically generating asset-based weather alerts comprising:
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a. a network comprising a file server and a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations individually associated with at least one asset to be monitored, said workstations each under the control of a separate decision maker;
b. a first database accessible by said file server, said first database including (i) information identifying the assets to be monitored, (ii) mapping information related to the locations of said assets to be monitored, (iii) for each asset to be monitored, the address of each workstation associated therewith, and (iv) predetermined weather parameters and associated thresholds for said assets;
c. a second database accessible by said file server including multiple types of weather data automatically ingested into said second database, d. software for automatically (i) processing said mapping information related to said locations of assets to be monitored and process said data in said second database to determine what weather conditions will exist at said locations of assets to be monitored, (ii) comparing, for said locations of assets to be monitored, said weather conditions to said predetermined thresholds to determine whether weather conditions at any of said locations of said assets to be monitored will exceed said thresholds, and (iii) generating and transmitting weather alert messages to workstations associated with assets to be monitored where weather conditions will exceed said predetermined thresholds. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A weather-enabled decision support apparatus for automatically generating asset based weather alerts comprising:
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a file server and a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations under the control of a separate decision maker and selectively associated with at least one asset to be monitored and capable of communicating with the fileserver and forming a network therewith, said file server capable of;
a. storing geographic information related to locations of assets to be monitored;
b. for individual assets to be monitored, storing the address of at least one workstation associated with the asset;
c. storing a predetermined set of weather related parameters and associated thresholds for said assets;
d. and being programmed to (i) automatically ingest multiple types of weather data from at least one source;
(ii) use said weather data and said geographic information to map weather conditions relative to the individual locations of assets to be monitored;
(iii) use the weather data to determine if individual locations of assets to be monitored exist where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds; and
(iv) automatically generate a first alert message if there is an intersection between a location of an asset to be monitored and a geographic area where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds and automatically transmit said first alert message over said network to the address of the at least one workstation associated with the asset located where said intersection exists.- View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A weather-enabled decision support apparatus for automatically generating asset-based weather alerts comprising:
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a file server and a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations under the control of a separate decision maker and selectively associated with one or more assets to be monitored and capable of communicating with the file server and forming a network therewith, said file server capable of;
a. storing geographic information related to assets to be monitored;
b. for individual assets to be monitored, storing the address of at least one workstation associated with the location;
c. storing at least one predetermined set of weather related parameters and associated thresholds for said assets;
d. and being programmed to (i) automatically ingest multiple types of weather data from at least one source, (ii) automatically compare said weather data to said thresholds, (iii) automatically compare locations of individual assets to be monitored and geographic areas where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds, (iv) automatically using said comparison to identify which individual assets to be monitored are located where weather conditions exceeding at least one of said thresholds will exist, (v) automatically generate a first alert message if there is an intersection between the location of an asset to be monitored and a geographic area where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds; and
(vi) automatically transmit said first alert message over said network to the address of the at least one workstation associated with the asset located where said intersection exists.- View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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37. A weather-enabled decisions support apparatus for automatically generating asset based weather alerts comprising:
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a file server and a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations under the control of a separate decision maker and selectively associated with one or more assets to be monitored and capable of communicating with the file server and forming a network therewith, said file server capable of;
a. storing, for each asset to be monitored, geographic information related to location of said asset and the address of at least one workstation selectively associated with said asset;
b. storing at least one predetermined set of weather related parameters and associated thresholds for said assets;
c. and being programmed to (i) automatically ingest multiple types of weather data from at least one source, (ii) automatically compare said weather data to said thresholds, (iii) automatically determine whether any assets to be monitored are located in geographic areas where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds, (iv) automatically generate a first alert message if a geographic area where weather conditions will exceed at least one of said thresholds; and
(vi) automatically transmit said first alert message over said network to the address of said at least one workstation selectively associated with said asset.
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44. A weather-enabled decision support apparatus for automatically generating asset based weather alerts to people having responsibility for said assets comprising:
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a. a plurality of addressable workstations, each of said workstations assigned to persons having responsibility for at least one asset to be monitored;
b. a file server capable of;
(i) storing a plurality of sets of predetermined weather related parameters and associated thresholds for said assets;
(ii) storing, for each asset to be monitored, geographic information related to the location of said asset, the identity of the set of predetermined weather related thresholds to be used for said asset, and the address of a workstation assigned to a person having responsibility for said asset;
(iii) automatically ingesting weather data;
(iv) determining the weather conditions for the location of each asset to be monitored;
(v) comparing, for each asset to be monitored, weather conditions for the location of said asset with the set of predetermined weather related thresholds to be used for said asset to determine whether the weather conditions at the location of said asset will exceed any of the thresholds in the set of predetermined weather related thresholds to be use for said asset;
(vi) automatically generating a first alert message and automatically transmitting said message to the address of a workstation assigned to a person having responsibility for an asset to be monitored if weather conditions will exceed at least one of the thresholds of the set of thresholds associate with that asset at the location of said asset.
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Specification