METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING WEATHER DECISION INFORMATION TO MOBILE USERS

A system, method and apparatus (100) for providing location specific real time weather and other time critical high value decision support information to pilots, mariners, and other mobile users is disclosed. Ground facilities obtain global weather and other time critical information from a variety of sources (101). Based on individual user's position (107), route, type of aircraft or ship, and/or other factors, the ground facilities extract relevant information and provide this to the user via the Internet (105), satellite (104), ground based wireless data link (103), or other data communication means. When received, the information is used by on-board software (108), which can account for the aircraft or ship's characteristics, location, route, speed, heading, and/or other factors, and create unique depictions that allow for rapid assimilation and interpretation to support tactical decision making to improve user safety, efficiency and/or comfort. Also disclosed is a similar capability where the processing is done on the ground (102) with the presentation information being delivered to the aircraft or ship (107), and where the decision support capability is also provided to a fleet management facility (102) to support collaborative decision making.