The MeteoGroup Winter Road Maintenance Industry Meeting took place from June 20 until June 21, 2016 and is a very good chance to exchange information about business developments. In the following Simone Dietrich from MeteoGroup gives a conclusion on the successful event…
A forward-looking winter service planning doesn’t start with the first frost warning, but already in the warm season – so the conclusion to this year’s winter service industry meeting. In our opinion a very important contribution to the optimal winter service preparation is amongst other things a regular exchange of experience.
In cooperation with different partners such as G. Lufft Mess- und Regeltechnik GmbH we invited all stakeholders again to inform each other on the latest developments in the winter service branch. Case studies, how cities and local governments were have improved their winter service through the targeted placement of ice detection systems as well as a sustainable resource planning, a meteorological crash-course, everything that matters to detect slippery roads the right way, as well as legal certainty and new trends and research topics were on the agenda.
Two days of intensive and fruitful discussions with 80 participants gave us the certainty, that the implementation of ice alert systems’ data into our online portal www.Glätte24.de decisively support the road menders in terms of optimizing their route planning, to clear critical sections first and to grit as efficient as possible.
And the benefits are obvious: To spread de-icing material only if needed, only as much as necessary, and only where needed saves money and protects the environment and resources sustainably.
For many years we’ve relied on competent measurement technology manufacturers such as Lufft. Innovations are an important precondition to create pinpoint ice and aquaplaning warnings. In future, we expect to have even better forecast modells with which the decision will be improved as well. One approach to reach this aim is to implement real time data delivered by mobile weather sensors such as MARWIS which are mounted on gritting vehicles into our route forecasts.
