Asheville, Tennessee, company uses GIS technologies for climate monitoring

Citizen-Times (Tennessee): …Thanks to a growing number of geographic information system wizards in Asheville, local policymakers, business people and even homeowners can now turn to the technology for a roadmap to the future. “We're in the business of converting data into decisions,” said Jim Fox, director of UNC Asheville's National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center, as well as the local RENCI program.

…These groups are marrying geographic information systems or GIS technology to vast databases containing information about the environment, climate and water resources. The goal is to let policymakers visualize best and worse-case scenarios for growth and development, among other issues. Many of these tools are now available to the public on Web sites for the city of Asheville and Buncombe County.

…At NEMAC, researchers are working closely with the Asheville office of the National Climatic Data Center to turn the federal agency's massive climate databases into useful GIS products. As an example Fox cited the Severe Weather Data Inventory, which allows a company considering a specific site to learn the incidence of lightning strikes, earliest frosts or possibilities of flooding….