IDV Puts 60 Years Of Tornado Data Into 'Tornado Tracks'

LANSING -- IDV Solutions Inc. has released a free, publicly accessible visualization application that lets users interactively explore more than 60 years' worth of data about tornadoes in the United States.

The original Tornado Tracks infographic was featured on the IDV Solutions blog, www.idvsolutions.com/Blogs. It spread rapidly across the Web and in national media including the Weather Channel. The new interactive application, created with Visual Fusion data visualization software, lets users filter the data by month, tornado intensity, injuries, fatalities, or value of property damage.

Users can also navigate a timeline to view tornado activity in the U.S. on any date between January 1950 and December 2011.

The application can be accessed from IDV Solutions' Web site at: www.idvsolutions.com/Demos/interactive-tornado-map.aspx.

Tornadoes are one of many events and risks that organizations can visualize with Visual Fusion and its sister product, Visual Command Center risk analysis and response software.

"Visual Command Center provides organizations with real-time information on natural disasters -- tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, volcanoes, and more -- as well as global security incidents," said Scott Caulk, Vice President, Product Management. "It alerts security teams when these events present a risk to their employees and facilities, providing the kind of immediate, actionable information they need to protect people and assets."

Tornado Tracks uses the same technology to bring its massive set of weather data to life.

"A good visual should answer questions you never thought to ask," said the Tornado Tracks creator, IDV Solutions user experience lead John Nelson. "I've found myself navigating this data in all sorts of directions that I wouldn't have considered without an easy visual tool. Putting this data into an intuitive environment removes barriers to exploration and understanding, especially for a topic of such pervasive and specific risk."

In the visualization, fireworks-like white trails crisscross a dark map of the US. Each line on the map represents an individual tornado path, and the brightness of the color denotes its intensity, with brighter strokes representing more violent storms. The application uses data from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

A composite view of the data is available in poster form from Zazzle.com, and a video that moves through all of the data day-by-day in two minutes can be viewed on the IDV Solutions' YouTube channel.

IDV Solutions is a data visualization software company that helps organizations discover opportunity, identify risk, and take action. For more information, please visit http://www.idvsolutions.com.