Mobile: Turning Consumers Into Weather Forecasters?

Mike-Kelly

Mobile applications will create numerous opportunities. In March, The Weather Channel will debut a new show focusing on nature called From The Edge with Peter Lik. The company integrated Nielsen's audio code technology to serve up simultaneous, complementary content to the new show to consumers on tablet devices. It's just the beginning of tying together multiple platforms.  

The Weather Channel views weather similar to the way Google looks at search, Mike Kelly, The Weather Channel CEO, told attendees at OMMA Global in San Francisco Monday. The company claims to employ more meteorologists than any other private company in the world, and runs on its own algorithmic forecasting method to deliver accurate forecasts. That focus prompted it to focus on location-based services.

In a recent campaign for Dunkin' Donuts, serving up weather information triggered information on the location of its nearest retail store.

Kelly says The Weather Channel uses the algorithm by dividing the country up into 1.5-mile squares. It may not have made sense until the smartphone with GPS hit the market. Now as people move through zones, if the weather changes, the consumer will know.

Device manufacturers are building in features to support The Weather Channel's efforts, such as feeds from the national weather service and more than 400 other sources from around the world. Android devices are also building in barometers -- one of three measurements that can tell people weather conditions around the world.

As more of these phones hit the market, Kelly says he hopes consumers will allow The Weather Channel to take barometric readings from the phones, so it can make the weather forecast more accurate. "We could turn every consumer with a smartphone into a weather forecaster or weather observer, potentially," he says.

1 comment about "Mobile: Turning Consumers Into Weather Forecasters?".
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  1. Brian Hayashi from ConnectMe 360, March 1, 2011 at 2:02 a.m.

    Actually, the same brains behind IBM's Watson have powered something called Deep Thunder for years. The conceit of Deep Thunder is the ability to predict weather for much more targeted areas (say the size of a football field) in much shorter intervals (starting an hour in advance). The key? Increasing the number of sensors beyond what AWS (Automated Weather System, not Amazon) provides.

    Unfortunately, I seem to remember Deep Thunder benefits more from a greater number of fixed points than a constantly migrating swarm of handsets.

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