Addition of Historical California Wildfire Information Enables Enhanced Weather and Natural Disaster-Related Risk Assessment

 

TROY, N.Y.-- Pitney Bowes MapInfo, the leading global provider of location intelligence, today introduces new data sets for the Risk Data Suite™, a source of risk related weather and other natural hazard information. Among the new data sets being offered is a Wildfire Bundle, currently with information and exposure grids for California, which can be used to assess the proximity of property and assets to areas of potential wildfire risk.

The comprehensive Risk Data Suite weather peril and natural disaster database consists of bundles with high-definition data and aggregate exposure grids. New bundles added to the Risk Data Suite include:

    * Wildfire Bundle – Currently consists of data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The bundle depicts potential risk to wildfires based on historical data on both wild land and developed, urban zones.
    * Fire Station Bundle – Currently contains information about each local fire station and department in the U.S., including contact information, county served, type of department and number of stations. Also included are details about the location of specific personnel and equipment required in a geographical service area.
    * Shoreline Bundle – Includes data captured from 270 National Ocean Service (NOS) Navigation Charts and spans more than 80,000 nautical miles used to determine distance to coast calculations for all coastal states on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.

These new data sets are additions to the existing Risk Data Suite, which contains an Earthquake Bundle, Weather Bundle, Windpool Bundle and Mass Movement Bundle.

Updates to the original bundles are also available. The Mass Movement Bundle now includes information on sinkhole locations in Florida, including caves, disappearing streams, spring and underground drainage systems. Windpool Bundles, containing the historical information on wind speed and wind-borne debris regions, are now available for eight additional states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

When used in conjunction with other Pitney Bowes MapInfo location intelligence technology, Risk Data Suite enables insurance risk managers to make better business decisions. Based on a site’s exposure to severe weather, natural hazards and risk mitigators, Risk Data Suite can help address critical decisions in areas, such as: underwriting policy analyses and rating; custom rating territory creation and maintenance; credit and risk scoring; portfolio risk aggregation and realistic disaster scenario analyses; and claims planning and preparedness.

“Risk Data Suite provides insurance risk managers with historical information about unpredictable weather or natural disasters to help them better prepare for future events,” said Bill Sinn, global insurance manager, Pitney Bowes MapInfo. “An unpredictable event, such as the recent wildfires in Southern California, is just one example of how historical data can help insurers limit and manage their liability and exposure to risks. Location intelligence technology helps determine insurance rates based on the frequency and severity of damage from natural disasters, perilous weather or extent of environmental hazards.”

About Pitney Bowes MapInfo

Pitney Bowes MapInfo, part of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), is the leading global provider of location intelligence solutions, integrating software, data and services to provide greater value from location-based information and drive more insightful decisions for businesses and government organizations around the world. The company’s solutions are available in multiple languages through a network of strategic partners and distribution channels in 60 countries. Visit www.mapinfo.com and www.pb.com for more information.