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Advanced weather forecasting system proposed for DAR, Pagasa
Source: Inquirer
Author: Tessa R. Salazar
Date: 1999-06-12
 
PICTURE this: A weather

system that is

agriculture-related. A weather

director giving hourly, round-the-clock report updates to

farmers all over the country. A system that would give farmers

crop assessments and advice before a typhoon hits.



Now picture the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and

Astronomical Services Administration having an accurate

forecasting system--using weather prediction models that are

particularly designed for tropical weather. Picture Pag-asa

supplying the country with a 30-year historical analysis of

typhoon track records in one click.



And then picture a television station providing predesigned

three-dimensional graphics and animations with realistic cloud

simulations that would give an interesting, if not stylish,

weather newscast.



Imagine zooming in from three kilometers above the surface of

the earth, flying right down into greater detail to a big fire in a

forest.



As if in time for the typhoon season, Weather News Inc.

Philippines--a new subsidiary of global information services

company Weather News Inc.--introduced its WeatherVision GS

to broadcasting and government representatives, including

Department of Science and Technology undersecretary Rufino

C. Lirag Jr.



Weather News Inc. Philippines said it already has a

one-kilometer resolution of the Philippines. The company is now

working on getting it into a more detailed 10-meter resolution.



"To give you a much more realistic view of the Philippines, we

need to work on the data," said Hiroyoshi Ishibashi, chair and

CEO of WNI.



The presentation featured a camera focused above the surface

of the earth flying right down to the Emperor's Palace in Tokyo

through the "pinpoint region" method. With this method,

Ishibashi added that WNI could recreate the actual activities of

active volcanos such as Mt. Pinatubo. Pinpoint region was also

used in the Nagano Winter Olympics as a visual directory.

Visitors and olympic enthusiasts were given a bird's eye view

and information on the locations of the winter games.



Ishibashi explained, however, that the image in the screen is not

in real time, but the audience can see the actual topography of a

certain location where an occurrence is taking place. The

occurrence could be placed as part of the animated event and it

would look like the audience is taken to that very spot.



WeatherVision GS has 3D computer graphics technology,

remote sensing and virtual studio navigation technology.



"(Pinpoint region technology) consists of several components,"

Ishibashi explained. "The stage is described in remote sense

fixture. The actors are the clouds, thunderstorms, rains--all

things around it are called actors. And finally there's a

cameraman that shoots all the scenes on the stage."



"The real time (technology) applied to it is the real time weather

as it appears," added John C. Thomson, managing director of

WNI Oceanroutes. "This is what we call a weather actor. It is

applied over the actual topography so one could see real time

weather as it would look like if you were in an aircraft."



WNI Philippines has been eyeing the Department of

Agriculture, Pagasa and GMA-7 to be the first to use the

WeatherVision GS.



Jimmy B. Lorenzo, president and managing director of WNI

Philippines Inc. said that if approved, a system called the

"weather director" will be installed at the DAR central office.

Several systems will also be installed in its regional offices.



"The mode of communication will be through the Internet,"

Lorenzo said. "We feed the paper through the Internet to the

system. It will then be up to the decision-makers what they will

say to the farmers."
 

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