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Google Earth Used To Predict Electrical Problems

Posted by samzenpus on from the what-can't-it-do dept.

coondoggie writes "What do you get when you combine images from Google Earth and the brainpower from researchers at Oak Ridge National Labs? Well in this case you get a tool that enables real-time status of the national electric grid that federal state and local agencies can use to coordinate and respond to major problems such as wide-area power outages, natural disasters and other catastrophic events. The Visualizing Energy Resources Dynamically on Earth (VERDE) system, announced this week, mashes together images and stats of everything from real-time status of the electric grid and weather information to power grid behavior modeling and simulation."

5 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Wha? by ejdmoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How exactly does Google Earth predict *anything* at all?

    What it seems is someone wrote software to analyze the electrical grid, and they use the Google Maps API to visualize the geographic data.

    Yay.

  2. simple google by twotailakitsune · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This is what, the 100th idea using Google Maps/Earth? they are just using the Google Maps API. Google is more open with people using Maps without paying some big Usage fee.

    What this is really about is the VERDE program. Now if Google was doing a real time status program I would have it sit on my screen all day.

  3. just a question by silentphate · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If this is such a major development, why is it just now being created? Haven't we had the technology to do something like this for decades?

  4. I am skeptical... by bogaboga · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You know why? It is because data and images from Google Earth are not that up-to-date. In fact, several [new] roads in my county are not shown on Google Earth and Google Maps! So I am skeptical. Am I alone?

  5. The real news by hcdejong · · Score: 3, Insightful

    is that this is news at all:

    Major power outages in the United States over the past decade have a recurring theme - the lack of wide-area situational understanding was a key factor that contributed to blackouts.

    (emphasis mine)

    How can you expect to manage something as complex as a continental power grid without having the data you need? It's not like this capability has only recently become available.