Spatial database system for generation of weather event and risk reports

• US 7,949,548 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2007
• Issued: 05/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guy Carpenter & Company LLC (Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Guy Carpenter & Company LLC (Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc.)
• Inventors: Adams, Bryan, Soh, Elizabeth, Mathai, Shajy, Samuel, Shaju, Andaloo, Kiran, Mangano, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilligan; Luke
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TRAN N
• Application Number:
  US11/715,159
• Publication Number:
  US 20070214023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,539 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/00 Meteorology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

The present invention is a tool including a spatial database and a data warehouse used to track portfolio sites that are affected by weather events, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, hail, tornados, or manmade events. A spatial database provides rich spatial geometry features using earth longitude and latitude as a 2-D reference system in spatial system. A insurer portfolio site, which is defined by longitude and latitude data, includes portions that are represented as a point. A weather event is represented as polygon in the spatial database. Based on user configured threshold values, it may be determined when a point falls inside, or on a boundary, of a polygon to identify a site that is affected by that weather event and corresponding reports may be generated, including maps identifying the affected sites and total insured value calculations for the affected sites, in order to gauge risk.

Claims

1. A method of generating integrated data reports, comprising:

(a) storing, into a computer, insurer portfolio data comprising a plurality of geographic locations within a geographic area, wherein insurance coverage is provided by the insurer in said geographic location;

(b) storing, into the computer, one or more user risk thresholds for the insurer portfolio;

(c) receiving, by the computer, real time weather and catastrophe data;

(d) determining, with the computer, the effects of the real time data on said insurer portfolio data plurality of geographic locations;

(e) selecting, with the computer, a subset of said geographic locations wherein the corresponding effect of the real time data exceeds the one or more user risk thresholds; and

(f) providing, by the computer, a report specifying the subset of said geographic locations.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a report includes generating, with a spatial database, polygons representative of weather event data boundary information and newswire event data.

3. The method of claim 2 further including the step of processing, in the computer, the insurer portfolio data geographic locations and the polygons, and the step of determining whether and which insurer portfolio data geographic locations fall within or on the boundary of the polygons.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of determining includes implementing a software application programmed in Java programming language and using spatial queries.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of using spatial query includes correlating latitude and longitude of said geographic locations with latitude and longitude data for each polygon.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of providing a report includes generating a map indicating the subset of said geographic locations.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein generating a map includes indicating a level of exposure for the insurer portfolio data for the subset of said geographic locations.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a report includes providing the report to a user via an internet web portal.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of storing insurer portfolio data includes loading, by an insurer, said insurer portfolio data via a web portal.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

retrieving the insurer portfolio data from a data warehouse;

connecting the data warehouse to a reporting engine; and

displaying in a grid, in the report, the affected sites and insurance metrics.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a report includes generating the report overnight for the insurer and storing the results as a cache file.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a report includes logging in, by a user, to the computer, and providing the report to a desktop of the insurer.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the real time data includes tornado, hail, wind gust, earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, precipitation, water surge, fire or terrorist attack data in a geospatial form.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the real time data is collected from various locations and the real time data is transformed into polygons and points on a map depicted in the report.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the subset of said geographic locations include risk areas of claim loss.

16. A system for generating integrated data reports, comprising:

at least one memory device including a spatial database receiving and storing insurer portfolio data, said insurer portfolio data including insurance coverage with corresponding geographic locations within a geographic area, said spatial database further receiving and storing real time weather and catastrophe data;

a central processing unit (CPU) for receiving said insurer portfolio data and said real time data, and for receiving one or more user risk thresholds for the insurer portfolio; and

a communications connection port for providing a connection to the insurer, whereby the CPU determines the effects of the real time data on said insurer portfolio data plurality of geographic locations, the CPU compares the effects of the real time data effects to the user risk thresholds, and whereby the system provides a report via the communications connection to the insurer, the report specifying a subset of said geographic locations in which claim loss risk exceeds the one or more user risk thresholds.

17. The system of claim 16 further including an automatic notification server (ANS), wherein the user risk thresholds includes one or more of a date range, weather event, geographic area, total insured value (TIV) range, or property value, the user risk thresholds being are received by the ANS.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the system includes a mapping engine for mapping the real time data.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the real time data includes tornado, hail, wind, earthquake, water surge, wildfire, hurricane track, hurricane wind area, or hurricane wind path data, precipitation, fire or terrorist attack data.

20. The system of claim 16 further including a data warehouse, wherein the insurer portfolio data is assigned a policy site ID number, the polygon is assigned a feature ID number, and both the policy site ID number and feature ID number are stored in the data warehouse.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the insurer portfolio data includes insured dollar values for individual insured properties of the insurer portfolio data, and the report includes a display of the dollar values falling within a real time data boundary.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein the report includes a map indicating the subset of said geographic locations and a level of claim loss risk.