iMapWeather

iMapWeather.com™ an elegant new hub for weather data, videos and photo-sharing using Google Maps

Forth Worth, Texas—Dec. 16, 2008—Veteran storm chaser Mike Eilts and his weather company have partnered with a Fort Worth agency to change the landscape for weather news with iMapWeather.com™, a website that fuses state-of-the-art weather information with social networking features.

Eilts worked for 18 years at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, where his passion for storm chasing and obsession with severe weather routinely put him in the line of danger. At the NSSL, Eilts drove storm chaser teams into the path of tornadoes, including the vehicle that deployed TOTO (Totable Tornado Observatory) in the path of tornadoes, the inspiration for the 1996 film Twister.

Eilts is internationally recognized for his Doppler radar expertise and its application to severe weather warning and prediction. Now President and CEO of Weather Decision Technologies (WDT), Eilts is chasing new challenges as WDT and the Texas-based Balcom Agency prepare to launch iMapWeather.com™.

“WDT’s weather experts and Balcom’s experienced advertising minds have come together to change the way people interact with weather,” Eilts said. “iMapWeather.com™ puts a comprehensive set of meteorological tools in everyone’s hands, all inside a user-friendly map.”

The full version of iMapWeather.com™ goes live in early 2009 and will be an entirely new way for users to experience and share weather.

“iMapWeather is a completely new online phenomenon—a website that marries social networking with real-time weather data,” said Stuart Balcom, president of the Balcom Agency. “We’ve merged geographic map technology and social media into an elegant map display and we consider it to be truly breakthrough.”

At iMapWeather.com users can track hurricane paths, see real-time lightning strikes, receive the most current weather conditions and view radar and satellite images on iMapWeather.com™. iMapWeather deploys a proprietary Flash application integrated with a Google Maps API. It provides Doppler Radar, satellite imagery and the most sophisticated forecasting available anywhere.

Everyone under the sun, from storm chasers and weather geeks to vacationers and soccer moms, will also be able to connect with -- and through -– the weather by using the site’s social media features like photo- and video-sharing as well as micro-blogging -- all localized inside the iMap.

iMapWeather is both a map-centered website and a widget, or embeddable Flash application, which organizations can readily put on their websites to provide clear, accurate weather information tailored to their industry. The iMapWeather embed code can easily be copied and pasted onto any website.

iMapWeather’s ClickCast™ function allows viewers to click on the iMap anywhere on Earth, from Paris to Beijing, for that location’s current temperature, wind speed, humidity and visibility. A five-day forecast is also provided for any location in the world with a simple click on the iMap.

About iMapWeather

iMapWeather is the easiest and most attractive and user-friendly way to get weather forecasts and current conditions, view radar and satellite images, and contribute and enjoy user-generated content like videos and photos. It will be the first website and widget (embeddable Flash application) to marry social networking with the weather.

iMapWeather is a joint venture between Balcom Agency, the leading creative services agency in Fort Worth, Texas, and Weather Decision Technologies, a global leader in providing state-of-the-science weather detection and forecasting systems and services based in Norman, Oklahoma.

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