Here Come the Hurricanes! iMap® Live Video Widget and Hurricane Threat Assessment Tools Give Local Media the Competitive Edge

iMapHurricane! offers a full suite of advanced Hurricane features for on-air, online, and on-the-go applications, including live broadcast tools, storm tracker video and mobile weather radio for iPhones

Miami, FL - June 23, 2010 – With high prospects for Hurricanes in the oil-ridden Gulf of Mexico this year, Weather Decision Technologies, Inc., and America's Emergency Network (AEN) are again partnering to provide a vital new emergency information tool to local newspaper, radio, and television websites called the iMapHurricane! video widget, featuring live video updates from the nation's hurricane experts at The National Hurricane Center (NHC). Media companies will have access to the widget that can be embedded in their website for a small one-time setup fee and no on-going cost, whether they are located in Hurricane zones or across the country.

WDT is displaying its unique iMapLive! touch screen weather broadcast tool for easy-to-use, cost-effective reporting on Hurricanes at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Broadcasters’ Conference in Miami this week.  iMapLive! includes Hurricane threat assessments, dynamic “spaghetti” Hurricane models, a custom user-generated content portal, and an embedded live storm tracker video stream feature. 

The company is also demonstrating its full-service iMapInteractive web-based hurricane solutions and its iMap Weather Radio in Miami, featuring real time NWS alerts, watches and warnings, interactive radar, and custom local media programming for Hurricane Season.

The iMapHurricane! video widget features real-time video streaming of the National Hurricane Center's critical storm updates. The NHC plans to provide hourly updates during hurricane landfall situations, and will hold special briefings during high-risk scenarios when storms are especially strong and storm patterns threaten large cities or vulnerable populations.

With iMapHurricane!, each NHC update and briefing will be available live and as video on-demand for four hours after the feed is over to viewers of WDT's partner websites in over 600 demographic market areas (DMA's). For media outlets with iPhone users, WDT is offering on-demand updates directly to mobile phones through its custom, iMapMobile iPhone application.

"With AEN's groundbreaking access to live video updates from the National Hurricane Center, and WDT's extraordinary reach into weather-related media outlets, the opportunities to reach more people with this vital information have grown exponentially," said Mike Eilts, President and CEO, WDT.

Media companies may easily embed the iMapHurricane! video widget directly in their website. The NHC Updates Widget is a Flash-based video-player application that will be embedded as a 400 x 700 pixel iFrame on any web page. AEN hosts the widget and provides hosting, bandwidth, and real-time and on-demand content. An example of the AEN widget can be found here: http://aendemo.com/

For more information on iMapHurricane, go to: http://wdtinc.com/pages/imaphurricane.