SBIR-STTR Award

Climate variability and the increased frequency of climate-related risks are redefining how communities address urban development and planning, Better storm risk assessment will lead directly to better preparedness which will save lives, reduce costs, and increase resiliency. Riverside proposes a data integration and visualization tool that will enable communities to assess climate-related risks, visualize the impacts and potential adaptation measures, and communicate real-time information at a neighborhood scale. Riverside will couple our multi-hazard decision support systems operational expertise with the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Asheville's National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC). The Riverside/NEMAC team will design and develop Application Programming Interface (API) services to dynamically discover, access, and present to users various components of the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC's) severe weather database. We propose to create an online application that links the current severe weather data base products, including NCDC's Severe Weather Data Inventory (SWDI), to social and demographic databases to allow users to assess populations and infrastructure at risk. This is a "connecting technology solution" that will bridge the gap between the rich databases at NCDC and the required application that the end users need.

In Phase I, Riverside investigated the need for increased access to NCDC storm data using web Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to connect severe weather and socioeconomic information. The focus of Phase I was to design and validate an architecture that specifies the methods through which the NCDC Storm data can be programmatically accessed, processed, and displayed in easy to use interfaces. Phase I market research verified the need for tools and software algorithms for accessing the NCDC data combined with socioeconomic data for the purpose of risk identification and assessment. We have designed a software product to move customers through the process of scoping and identifying climate-and weather-based risks to assets of interest. Through discussions with potential customers we have identified prospective markets for our proposed products. For Phase II, we have identified seven main objectives to create a commercially viable product. These objectives are: Refine Product Requirements, Develop User Interface, Develop API, Acquire Data, Incorporate Additional Datasets, Develop Workflow Framework, and Create Risk Assessment and Calculation Tools.