AccuWeather Global Weather Center, July 22, 2015 — AccuWeather, Inc., the global leader in weather information and digital media, today introduced AccUcast™, an exciting interactive crowdsourcing feature available in the AccuWeather universal iOS app where users can now share their local weather updates.
AccUcast is the only crowdsourcing tool with live crowdsourced weather maps that provide current weather conditions submitted by users in a global animation display. AccuWeather designed and developed AccUcast to help people worldwide make more informed decisions, providing a new level of localization and user interactivity in weather forecasting.
“Our mission is to personalize the weather by making it more localized and more interactive for all of our users,” said Steven Smith, AccuWeather President – Digital Media. “AccUcast’s crowdsourcing capability gives app users an innovative and easy way to share their weather observations and to see what other followers are experiencing nearby. By combining AccuWeather’s Superior Accuracy™ with real-world observations from our users, we are empowering people worldwide to participate in weather forecasting to make the best decisions that improve and protect their lives.”
AccUcast is available for global locations through the AccuWeather universal iOS app. Users can submit their local weather and hazard condition observations through the app’s landing screen, map screen, settings menu, and AccuWeather MinuteCast® screen. Weather conditions include clear, partly cloudy, cloudy, rain, snow, ice, or hail, and hazard conditions include damaging winds, slippery roads, flooding, and reduced visibility. After the user’s weather report is submitted, it is visible on the map screen as a pin resembling a person, which distinguishes it from the other user-submitted weather observations on the map.
In the zoomed-out view of the crowdsourced weather map screen, users will see smaller color-coded condition points which can be animated globally. This is unique to AccUcast and allows users to see both national and international weather patterns. When viewers zoom in, they will see crowdsourced weather observations as pins that can be tapped to reveal additional details including the condition, location, and time since submission. Each color-coded pin displays the reported condition with a weather-specific icon for easy scanning of weather patterns in a localized area.
AccUcast joins a suite of innovative features within the AccuWeather app, including MinuteCast. Available for more global locations than any other minute-by-minute forecast, MinuteCast provides the only global minute-by-minute precipitation forecast for a given area over the next two hours. This unique and patented forecast provides hyper-localized data specific to a user’s exact street address or GPS location and includes precipitation type and intensity, as well as start and end times. It is available for a growing list of international locations, including the contiguous United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark.
The AccuWeather App is available on the App Store for Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch at App store.
