Technology changes the way we live

Technology changes the way we live

With the advent of GPS, maps and navigation on mobile phones; ease of finding the destination made travel simple and easy. When combined with traffic details, routing became easier to ensure that you travel to your destination faster. This has been made possible with available mapping details, traffic situation and traffic models which help compute quicker routes. With information available on internet website and apps, you can also track a passenger car remotely.

As technology helped us with travel, it has also helped us during the cyclone. Nisarg – a cyclonic storm, which was brewing in the Arabian Sea, made it to the land and all of us were about it. Today’s technology propelled all the preventive actions and minimised the damage to life and property. It was possible due to Weather Forecasting, communication and internetwork.

Weather Forecasting, an application of science and technology, is at the core of this. It predicts, for a location and time, the weather conditions of the atmosphere. It does that using the data from satellites, weather monitoring stations and measurements taken at various points on the earth. Such measurements form the quantitative data using which meteorology projections can be made as to how the atmosphere will change. Over past decades numerous models have been developed by scientists and organisations around the world. Some of these models and organisations are Global Forecast System (GFS) run by National Weather Service (NWS), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). 

These models use the available quantitative data, and supercomputer computes the outcomes, to make the forecast available. With time, more data and accurate models, the predictions have also become more and more reliable. Present situation and the forecast from these models can further help take the necessary actions.

Also of the technology for weather forecasting, sophisticated mechanisms to visualise the output for human readability has been the key to make them effective. Such data now can be published on websites on the internet and also made available on mobile apps. Some of the websites are mausam.imd.gov.in and windy.com. With the apps available on mobile phones, the details are available to every citizen. On web or app, a dynamic visual display allows the model to be played, replayed and visualised for location and time. One can easily observe the movement with details of location, intensity and time schedule. Thus, telecommunications and mobile technology make it available for all.

One cannot imagine, without this technology, the possibility of a swift action during the Nisarg – which saved lives and ensured the least impact on life and property. It allowed officials and people to be prepared to avoid disaster. With the data and visualisation available to citizens through the various mediums of internet and apps, people were able to take necessary action to prevent damage to life and property.

Looking at such forecasts is bound to become a way of life. With details on apps and websites accessible to the common man through smartphones, each one can plan their day in life to make the most of it. Thus, checking of weather along with navigation and traffic can make things easier on a day to day basis as well as lookout for larger than life cyclones like Nisarg.

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