Over the last several years, the Boston Police Department (BPD) has undertaken a variety of Homeland Security initiatives that are critical to prevent, prepare for, respond and recover from terrorist events and those involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive weapons of mass destruction. A number of these initiatives relate to implementing and deploying GIS related technology to better understand and analyze situations within the Boston area.
As part of the initiative, Weatherflow carried out the design, installation, operation, and continued maintenance of a mesoscale observing network (mesonet) that collects high quality weather information in real-time. These data are to be used by city police plan and react to weather-induced (e.g., tropical system) or weather-influenced (e.g., chemical spill plume movement) events in an optimum fashion, minimizing casualties and property losses. The success of this project has been driven by an optimum siting strategy, an installation that meets the appropriate standards insuring high data quality, and a continued reliable, high quality real-time data feed.