Systems and methods for site-specific tracking of snowfall

Abstract

A central server containing a database receives snowfall data from weather stations that are contained at a multitude of different sites within a defined geographical area. The central server stores the snowfall data in the database, correlating the data with various user accounts. For instance, the data is correlated with the account of the owner of the site from which the data was received, and with the accounts of landscape contractors whom the owner of the site has engaged to clear snow from his site. The central server provides alerts to various user accounts based on the snowfall data. For instance, the server provides alerts to site owners based on the snowfall at their sites, and to landscape contractors based on the snowfall at sites they are engaged to clear snow from.

1 . A method comprising:
 at a computer system, receiving site-based snowfall data for a multitude of different sites and from a multitude of weather stations within a geographic area;   at the computer system, correlating the received site-based snowfall data with a multitude of user accounts;   for each of the user accounts, providing real-time snowfall alert data corresponding to each respective user account, wherein a first set of the user accounts includes user accounts corresponding to a single respective site, and wherein a second set of the user accounts includes user accounts corresponding to multiple sites,   wherein providing snowfall alert data includes providing map overlay data, wherein the map overlay data comprises snowfall amount data associated with each respective site and location data for with each respective site; and   for each respective user account, providing visual differentiation in a map interface between sites associated with the respective user account and sites not associated with the respective user account.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving site-based precipitation data and temperature data for the multitude of different sites within the geographic area. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the snowfall amount data comprises at least one of historical snowfall data, current snowfall data, or predicted snowfall data. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the map overlay data comprises choropleth map overlay data. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the map overlay data further comprises legal limit alert data indicating a legal snowfall limit at each respective site. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the map overlay data includes priority data, wherein the computer system determines the priority data based on an item selected from the list consisting of amount of current snowfall at each respective site, amount of predicted snowfall at each site, relative location of each site, expected amount of time to clear snow from each site, and type of site. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at the computer system, determining based upon the snowfall data that a snowfall amount at least one site has surpassed or will soon surpass a legal snowfall limit; and   providing an indication on the map interface that the snowfall amount at least one site has surpassed or will soon surpass a legal snowfall limit.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the snowfall alert data includes an item selected from the list consisting of an ID number associated with each respective site, map coordinates associated with each respective site, snowfall amount data associated with each respective site, an account number associated with an owner of each respective site, and a legal snowfall limit at each respective site. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein correlating the received site-based snowfall data includes, at the computer system, storing the received site-based snowfall data in a database such that site-based snowfall data corresponding to each respective site is stored in an entry in the database which corresponds to an account correlated with an owner of each respective site. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising interpolating site-based snowfall data for sites that do not have a database entry associated with them, wherein the interpolation is based on site-based snowfall data retrieved from database entries associated with sites that are geographically proximal to the sites that do not have a database entry associated with them. 
     
     
         11 . A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium tangibly recording computer program logic for providing snowfall data alerts, the computer program product comprising:
 code to receive site-based snowfall data for a multitude of different sites and from a multitude of weather stations within a geographic area;   code to correlate the received site-based snowfall data with a multitude of user accounts;   code to provide real-time snowfall alert data corresponding to each respective user account, wherein a first set of the user accounts includes user accounts corresponding to a single respective site, and wherein a second set of the user accounts includes user accounts corresponding to multiple sites,   wherein providing snowfall alert data includes providing map overlay data, wherein the map overlay data comprises snowfall amount data associated with each respective site and map coordinates associated with each respective site; and   code to provide, for each respective user account, visual differentiation in a map interface between sites associated with the respective user account and sites not associated with the respective user account.   
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the code to correlate comprises code to store the received site-based snowfall data in a database such that site-based snowfall data corresponding to each respective site is stored in an entry in the database which corresponds to an account correlated with an owner of each respective site. 
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , further comprising code to interpolate site-based snowfall data for sites that do not have a database entry associated with them, wherein the interpolation is based on site-based snowfall data retrieved from database entries associated with sites that are geographically proximal to the sites that do not have a database entry associated with them. 
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 code to determine, based upon the snowfall data, that a snowfall amount at least one site has surpassed or will soon surpass a legal snowfall limit; and   code to provide an indication on the map interface that the snowfall amount at least one site has surpassed or will soon surpass a legal snowfall limit.   
     
     
         15 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the map overlay data includes priority data, and further comprising code to determine priority data based on an item selected from the list consisting of amount of current snowfall at each respective site, amount of predicted snowfall at each site, relative location of each site, expected amount of time to clear snow from each site, and type of site. 
     
     
         16 . A computing device comprising:
 a memory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions for performing a method of alerting snowfall on mobile device interfaces;   a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the machine executable code to cause the processor to:   receive site-based snowfall data for a multitude of different sites and from a multitude of weather stations within a geographic area;   correlate the received site-based snowfall data with a multitude of user accounts;   provide real-time snowfall alert data corresponding to each respective user account, wherein a first set of the user accounts includes user accounts corresponding to a single respective site, and wherein a second set of the user accounts includes user accounts corresponding to multiple sites,   wherein providing snowfall alert data includes providing map overlay data, wherein the map overlay data comprises snowfall amount data associated with each respective site and map coordinates associated with each respective site; and   provide, for each respective user account, visual differentiation in a map interface between sites associated with the respective user account and sites not associated with the respective user account.   
     
     
         17 . The computing device of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 code to cause the processor to interpolate site-based snowfall data for sites that do not have a database entry associated with them, wherein the interpolation is based on site-based snowfall data retrieved from database entries associated with sites that are geographically proximal to the sites that do not have a database entry associated with them.   
     
     
         18 . The computing device of  claim 16 , wherein the code to cause the processor to correlate comprises code to cause the processor to store the received site-based snowfall data in a database such that site-based snowfall data corresponding to each respective site is stored in an entry in the database which corresponds to an account correlated with an owner of each respective site. 
     
     
         19 . The computing device of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 code to cause the processor to determine, based upon the snowfall data, that a snowfall amount at least one site has surpassed or will soon surpass a legal snowfall limit; and   code to cause the processor to provide an indication on the map interface that the snowfall amount at least one site has surpassed or will soon surpass a legal snowfall limit.   
     
     
         20 . The computing device of  claim 16 , wherein the map overlay data includes priority data, and further comprising code to cause the processor to determine priority data based on an item selected from the list consisting of amount of current snowfall at each respective site, amount of predicted snowfall at each site, relative location of each site, expected amount of time to clear snow from each site, and type of site.