DC weather is such that it can be pouring in Bethesda, but bone dry in Arlington. But that doesn't make it unpredictable. A Fairfax tech firm has figured out how to provide hyperlocal weather info and it may be popping up in your next car.
TrafficLand has spent 15 years providing live traffic video to media companies, first responders and others from its roadway camera network, which is made up of over 20,000 state and local cameras around the country. Now TrafficLand has partnered with Exelis (bought by Harris Corp earlier this year) to provide a road visibility data set from TrafficLand's network video. It can automatically alert drivers about real-time weather conditions at exact locations. CEO Larry Nelson says the company is dipping its big toe in the connected car space, and this service is one of several applications that could end up in the hands of car manufacturers. (Vienna-based Urgent.ly is another local tech firm making waves in the connected car space.)
The service was officially introduced at CES earlier this year and now it’s being expanded from 30 cities to 110. It uses video footage captured by TrafficLand’s platform and uses Exelis’ Helios digital platform software to analyze pixels for weather clues like color and reflections. Larry says it’s different than current weather tracking apps because it’s immediate and hyperlocal down to the street. (Who can argue with a live picture of falling snow?) Through APIs, product managers, operation center managers and applications developers can incorporate relevant weather info into their forecasting tools, browser-based products, mobile apps and enterprise systems.
TrafficLand is also expanding its traffic information platform to Europe, after fielding inquiries from government agencies and private companies for the last seven years. Larry says it’s resisted expanding abroad because targeting the US market was working just fine. But now the company will be in several EU countries over the next 12 to 18 months by forming partnerships with transportation departments and others.
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