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Friday, June 02, 2006
Hurricane Tracking Site (Ibis Eye) in Beta Testing
By Maurice Tamman
It is with some trepidation that we've launched our new Florida-centric
hurricane website - Ibis Eye
This is a very beta site and we'll be making numerous changes during
the season. There are bugs and some holes in the data but it works.
Perhaps the most ambitious feature of the site is the IBISEYE Risk
Estimator, which approximates the value of the property in the path of
any storm since 1960 should the storm hit today. (All hurricanes
between 1851 and 2005 can be plotted on a map.)
For this year's storms, the Risk Estimator will attempt to gauge the
vulnerability of an area as storms approaches by calculating fresh
statistics every time the National Hurricane Center updates the path of
a tropical storm.
The estimator will use detailed wind-field data for hurricane and
tropical storm force winds in 2006 so the numbers will give a view of
the economic and social fallout of an approaching and passing storm.
Because there is very little data available about the distance
hurricane force winds extended from the eye of a past storm, the Risk
Estimator assumes a 50-mile swath (as a 25-mile radius) along the path
of the storm. (Currently it does not account for the status - hurricane
or tropical storm - for each segment, but it will.)
For active storms, users visiting the site will be able to predict
where the storm will go. Those points will be used to calculate an
average user-submitted forecast path that will be displayed along with,
but less prominently, than the official forecast path. (This feature is
not visible because there are no active Atlantic storms.)
We've also build a statewide damage reporting system allows anyone to
report any damage and/or loss of services that they see. The damage
reporting is tied to a specific piece of land so even those who cannot
return to the area can zoom into their neighborhood and see what others
have reported.
(This is visible but disabled until a storm hits the state.)
We also have a weather alerts map that will track all the serious
weather alerts issued by the NWS from Virginia to Texas. These alerts
will include all hurricane-related alerts/warnings/watches etc and
thunderstorm, tornado, flood alerts etc.
This is a .NET app using the Google Maps API v.2
By Maurice Tamman
It is with some trepidation that we've launched our new Florida-centric
hurricane website - Ibis Eye
This is a very beta site and we'll be making numerous changes during
the season. There are bugs and some holes in the data but it works.
Perhaps the most ambitious feature of the site is the IBISEYE Risk
Estimator, which approximates the value of the property in the path of
any storm since 1960 should the storm hit today. (All hurricanes
between 1851 and 2005 can be plotted on a map.)
For this year's storms, the Risk Estimator will attempt to gauge the
vulnerability of an area as storms approaches by calculating fresh
statistics every time the National Hurricane Center updates the path of
a tropical storm.
The estimator will use detailed wind-field data for hurricane and
tropical storm force winds in 2006 so the numbers will give a view of
the economic and social fallout of an approaching and passing storm.
Because there is very little data available about the distance
hurricane force winds extended from the eye of a past storm, the Risk
Estimator assumes a 50-mile swath (as a 25-mile radius) along the path
of the storm. (Currently it does not account for the status - hurricane
or tropical storm - for each segment, but it will.)
For active storms, users visiting the site will be able to predict
where the storm will go. Those points will be used to calculate an
average user-submitted forecast path that will be displayed along with,
but less prominently, than the official forecast path. (This feature is
not visible because there are no active Atlantic storms.)
We've also build a statewide damage reporting system allows anyone to
report any damage and/or loss of services that they see. The damage
reporting is tied to a specific piece of land so even those who cannot
return to the area can zoom into their neighborhood and see what others
have reported.
(This is visible but disabled until a storm hits the state.)
We also have a weather alerts map that will track all the serious
weather alerts issued by the NWS from Virginia to Texas. These alerts
will include all hurricane-related alerts/warnings/watches etc and
thunderstorm, tornado, flood alerts etc.
This is a .NET app using the Google Maps API v.2
# posted by J @ 2:40 PM 