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"For they sow the WIND..."

July 22, 2002

Early summer is the season for extreme weather conditions such as violent thunderstorms in central Europe. Studies undertaken by insurance companies indicate that climate change has a dramatic impact on weather conditions. No wonder, then, that home owners, farmers, gardeners and mountain climbers want a fast, up-to-the-minute, reliable information service that allows them to react quickly and appropriately on hail storms or flash floods. The Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST has developed such an information system: an info-logistical program that goes by the name of WIND - Weather Information on Demand. Together with Bavarian insurance company VKB (Versicherungskammer Bayern) and a private meteorological service provider, meteomedia Deutschland GmbH, the ISST has been offering this service since May 2002 on a trial basis to 3,000 premium insurance customers.

"What makes WIND so exceptional is its finely granulated, high-quality weather information," emphasizes Ulrich Meissen. "After all, customers need weather warnings that actually apply to their location - not to the neighboring district." WIND's interface enables users not only to specify the location but to select weather events such as storm, fog and frost. Customers can receive their personalized information through a variety of media including fax, e-mail, pager, fixed-line phone or cellphone. The system's geographic locator operates via SMS to provide weather information relevant to the customer's current location.

Clearly, a complex information logistic engine must lie at the heart of this system. "On the basis of the profile entered by the customer, the program creates an electronic job request. The content broker manages weather data, the locator manages geografical ones and the timer fixes the delivery," describes Meissen, head of the project at ISST. "At last a presentation producer edits the weather information and transmits it to the desired or available end device." It need hardly be emphasized that the system is both modular and open: At any time, it can be expanded to accommodate new output devices such as UMTS cellphones. The distribution of information works - but where does the data come from? Meteomedia supplies two types of weather information: computer-generated forecasts and current meteorological observations from weather stations. Preliminary statistical evaluation of the reliability and market acceptance of the service at users' expense is planned for the immediate future.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft