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Helping Business Weather the Storm

World's First Full Resolution Radar Map Now Available to Severe Weather Watchers

by Daphne Thompson, on Mar 22, 2010 6:15:40 AM

iMap Version 3.0 Launches with Street Level and Single Site Radar, Giving Local Media Companies the Highest Resolution Data Available on the Internet

Norman, OK, March 22nd, 2010 -- For the first time in digital meteorological history, weather watchers will be able to enjoy full resolution, street-level radar data and near real-time single site radar data on an interactive iMap weather map. The full resolution Level 2 "super-resolution" radar data, with virtually no latency, has never before been integrated into an interactive Google-based map.

The iMap Version 3.0 solution, which launches today, offers the sort of intense graphic detail audiences only experience watching their local TV station radar on-air. Global weather industry leader Weather Decision Technologies (WDT) is now offering this ground-breaking functionality to local media company websites across the country, as a core feature of its industry-leading iMap solution.

"Single site radar at full resolution provides 16x higher spatial resolution and 5x better reflectivity resolution compared to the national radar mosaic solutions presented by other private weather companies," said Mike Eilts, President and CEO of WDT. "We are again changing the rules of the game for interactive weather maps, and we are proud to be bringing another 'first' to the local media weather industry," said Eilts.

Over 600 local media websites currently use the iMap web-based weather mapping solution. Ground-breaking iMap implementations include custom weather maps created by WDT for some of the world's leading local media companies such as ABC, Scripps, Fox Interactive Media, Tribune Interactive, Local TV, LLC, and the Citadel Group. iMap solutions are available in every major demographic market area in the U.S. In addition, WDT supplies core weather data feeds for weather pages such as MSN Weather.

WDT is unveiling the new iMap solution at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show taking place in Las Vegas, April 13th-15th, 2010. The upgrade is combined with other significant enhancements to iMap, including a new dynamic watches and warnings layer, which has been optimized for easy discovery on interactive maps, as well as ultra-detailed precipitation accumulation and satellite data.

New this season for local media customers is the iMapManager, which allows local stations to create and edit any number of iMaps and place them on their websites. Using the iMapManager, local stations have unprecedented control over their own branded iMap-enabled interactive weather pages, including the ability to add the following features:

  • an iMapMini providing thumbnails of iMap for placement on news front pages that link back to Weather pages
  • a distance measuring tool to help consumers determine the precise distance of approaching severe weather events
  • a map annotation tool to allow users to "draw" on embedded iMaps
  • a capability to allow users to mark and save their location on the map

WDT is also providing local media customers with iMapAlert, which includes brandable daily e-mail forecasts. With iMapAlert, local media customers may offer free alerting of National Weather Service watches and warnings, including daily e-mail forecasts which can be fully branded, as well as premium alerting services.

WDT offers complementary iMapLive! on-air tools and iMapMobile smartphone solutions as part of its full "three screen" offering for local media.

Topics:Company News

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