Weathershare, Phase 2

To evaluate and prepare for full corporate deployment of the WeatherShare system – a project to streamline and integrate available road weather data in the Northern California area into a single source easily accessible by incident responders and potentially the traveling public.

The WeatherShare system shows promise to increase the efficiency of situation assessments for a variety of purposes including incident management, highway maintenance, emergency medical services, traveler information, and possibly, homeland security applications. Unique features of WeatherShare include the ability for users to specify alerts and save display preferences. In Phase 1 of the WeatherShare project, WTI Researchers utilized technology to provide Caltrans District 2 with a surface transportation weather system that allows users to view a compilation of available road weather data from various sources in the region. In Phase 2 of this project, the research team will assist Caltrans in business case analysis and produce documentation for use in a Feasibility Study Report (FSR) while developing partnerships and plans for long-term maintenance and management of the system. The project team will promote system usage and awareness by existing stakeholders and, with the assistance of Caltrans, will identify stakeholders in new coverage areas. The team will evaluate system use and functionality over multiple seasons and across a wide audience of prospective users with results incorporated in the business case analysis. In conjunction with evaluation, WTI will conduct an on-going needs and requirements analysis and, where appropriate, conduct development and outreach to address identified needs and requirements.