Snow fell across the tri-state region and the first storm of 2012 brought between 2 and 4 inches Saturday before the bulk of the storm passed in the early afternoon.
The city had 1,500 snow plows on call and each snow plow was equipped with GPS (global positioning systems) that allowed supervisors to see their locations on command maps updated every 30 seconds.
The GPS system was displayed at the city’s Weather Command Center Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a morning news conference.
The GPS equipment was installed last year after the winter storm that hit the tri-state area the day after Christmas of 2010. The Christmas-time blizzard caused
the city’s plows to get stuck and stranded in drifts. Those snow play delays caused city streets to remain impassable for days.
According to Bloomberg, the GPS system has already led to “vastly improved communication” between supervisors and plow operators.
Bloomberg said city residents will soon have access to the same information. He said the city is weeks away from activating a web-based service, which will allow people to see when their street was last plowed or salted. This will be based on data from the GPS system.
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2 Responses
The GPS system tells where the plow is located. It doesn’t tell you whether the plow is lowered for plowing or raised as the plows were a year ago.
WOW!!! It’s SERIOUSLY about time!!!