Environment Agency to Keep Live Flood Map as Storm Warning Issued for UK
Shropshire, United Kingdom (PRWEB UK) 25 October 2013 -- The Met Office has issued several weather warnings saying there is an increased risk of flooding from high winds and heavy rain set to hit the UK over the weekend. An amber alert for Wind has been issued to the exposed coasts in the South-West and a Yellow Alert for Rain in Northern England, the Midlands, southern England and Wales.
This comes as Shoothill, one of the UK’s leading software development and data visualisation specialists, announce that the Environmental Agency has signed an agreement to keep the updated FloodAlerts flood mapping system on their website, following positive feedback over the past year.
The live FloodAlerts map was launched by Shoothill and the Environmental Agency for a trialling period in 2012, and attracted widely positive feedback during the UK’s floods last year, when it received more than 200,000 hits in its first hour of operation. The FloodAlerts Map has received various updates, including new map layers for England and Wales, allowing users to view flood warnings according to Parliamentary Constituencies, Counties and the Environmental Agency Boundaries.
Other updates were made to improve usability, speed and scalability in times of major incidents (during which the number of visitors to the site will spike). The FloodAlerts map system is available as an API, Stand-Alone and OEM versions, and uses a cloud-based mapping engine that is permanently connected to the Environment Agency via a hub, allowing their flood monitoring data to be transmitted to it every 15 minutes. The map helps homeowners, people with holiday homes, and businesses or organisations dealing with flood damage/protection; people with various properties in areas at risk can monitor their status, for effective asset management & protection.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Agency said: “The enhancements to the Live Flood Warning Map and FloodAlerts service were made in direct response to customer feedback during last year’s floods and now provide an improved user experience.”
Rod Plummer, Managing Director of Shoothill, commented: “These enhancements have been designed to improve the usefulness of the FloodAlerts map on the Environmental Agency site, both for the general public and first responders in the event of danger from imminent flooding. The Environmental Agency’s desire to continue using our map on their site is a fantastic vindication of the system, and we’re thrilled it will continue to help people in difficult times.”
For more information on Shoothill, contact Victoria Hammond on 0845 421 0391 or email victoria.hammond(at)shoothill(dot)com.
About Shoothill:
Shoothill are one of the UK’s leading software development and data visualisation specialists, creating award-winning, bespoke solutions and bringing data and content to life through rich, interactive applications for a diverse range of blue chip clients across many different industry sectors in both the public and private sectors.
Specialisations include: Mapping, Data Visualisation, Creative Media Solutions, APPs Development.
Shoothill draws on a team with over 90 years’ combined software development experiences and uses a range of technical capabilities to create elegant solutions that afford a high degree of scalability and functionality that could help your organisation to transform and visualise its data and content in richer, more innovative and immersive ways.
Clients include: Microsoft, MSN, Yahoo!, BT, Environment Agency, Disney, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., Formula 1 Management, The Imperial War Museum, Fauna and Flora International, UNESCO and UNHCR, amongst many others.
Victoria Hammond, Shoothill, http://www.shoothill.com/, 0845 421 0391, [email protected]
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