Oh, how time flies! Perhaps that's the case when you're having fun. The work with RSI is essentially a long and arduous journey that began back in 1985 when we (Torbjörn and Jörgen) started the road climatology research group at the University of Gothenburg. The vision was set early – applied road climatology – theory and hypotheses based on large amounts of data that can be used by road authorities.
When our dissertations were completed in 1990 - Modelling of Local Climate and - Application of a Local Climatological Model for Prediction of Air and Road Surface Temperature - the subject was established, which was good. But now the real work of productizing and operating begins. Halfway out of the academic environment, it was time to start Klimator to tackle the application of the research results. The goal is clear and distinct - a product that is a real decision support for the winter organization. The research has given us detailed knowledge of how temperature varies in connection with different weather situations and terrain elements - now it's about putting this into a practical context - the embryo of RSI is created with our local climatological models. Countless tests and trials lead us to HALVAR, which in the early 2000s was tested in the area around Örebro with good results in terms of the ability to predict surface temperature and slipperiness risk. However, the presentation environment (GUI) proved to be of great importance in convincing users of the system's excellence - here we had not quite reached the goal. Capturing new users in an educational and easy-to-use way becomes an additional focus in the continued development of a decision support system.
The next step is SSWM - Support System for Winter Maintenance, which we managed to sell in the Czech Republic with the help of Cross Zlin. Already in the first winter, the success was a fact with attention in Czech TV and press. The Norwegian Road Administration also became a customer of ours, where we deliver forecasts and climate knowledge. These two customers became an important and decisive base for us on the way to the development of RSI and its launch in 2014.
Now it takes off - with a sleek and smart GUI, it becomes clear what a powerful tool RSI is. Our development team is attentive to our customers' needs, and the feedback we receive from our customers from different countries and regions gives us the opportunity to fine-tune RSI's functions. The customer benefit now becomes very clear when our customers see how they can streamline their work and optimize salt usage and measures. The precision of our forecasts, both in terms of time and space, leads us to a long-awaited goal in 2024 - Dynamic Dosage - here we realize a vision from when our research started, namely that our model is directly connected to the salt spreader. The spreader width and salt amount are controlled by RSI, which keeps track of current and forecasted conditions on the road. A vision and a clear goal are reached, but it triggers us to set new goals - now we see the beginning of the beginning.
