MetraWeather and BloomSky join forces

28 February 2017, Wellington, New Zealand for immediate release

MetraWeather and BloomSky join forces to deliver big impacts with Small Data and Sherlock™

MetraWeather Sherlock™ is a new Small Data analysis and personal weather service that uses behavioural clues, direct user input and observations from smart devices to provide more useful and relevant information than traditional weather apps.

Sherlock is based on the belief that people have unique relationships with their weather.

The service interacts with users to classify weather conditions and the impacts on their lifestyles, jobs and activities. Based on dozens of weather attributes and algorithms, a customised weather index is created that then generates a personalised weather service.

Sherlock monitors weather conditions from smart devices and uses push technology to inform users with actionable information about how their weather will impact them.

Sherlock can alert users when the weather changes at another location, tell a user to leave 10 minutes earlier for work because of recent snow, remind them to wear a raincoat on Wednesday, or make recommendations for which day will be best for surfing or have a family picnic.

The more Sherlock is used, the more it learns about what is important for the user increasing user relevancy and usefulness. Sherlock transcends weather apps to deliver meaningful information about safety, productivity, and enjoyment.

Sherlock is powered by the fast-growing BloomSky global network of smart weather camera stations. The networks provide real-time, situational awareness of the weather at a highly-granular level. The weather stations transmit highly-accurate temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and rainfall data accompanied with HD images of the sky every 5 minutes.

“MetraWeather SherlockTM and BloomSky helps users know how weather will impact their safety, mobility and productivity,” says Lijun Chen, BloomSky’s Strategic Partnership Business Solutions Executive.

“Our partners recognize that Small Data provides human-scale actionable knowledge. That has tremendous potential for enhancing weather services.”

Brian Bell, Group GM of Sales and Delivery for MetraWeather says, “If Big Data is about machines and predictive analytics, Small Data is about people and actionable information.”

“Our Small Data is from known sources. We understand what it is telling us. We’re using this pre-existing knowledge to help solve very specific problems unique to a user.

“Big Data can’t alert a person to a sudden weather change and inform them how it might impact their activities. Small Data can.

“Most of the world seems fixated on Big Data. We are obsessed with Small Data and how it can help people every day stay safe, be more productive, and enjoy their lifestyles.”

Comparison of Sherlock™ and conventional weather applications and services.

Sherlock™ vs. Weather Apps

Sherlock services will be rolled out in selected markets in the United States and New Zealand in late-2017.

BloomSky is exhibiting on Stand C3 at InterMET Asia 2017 at Suntec, Singapore.

ENDS

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