Willis Research Network and Google Earth Offer Views From Above
New York, NY, May 6, 2008 – The Willis Research Network (WRN), part of Willis
Group Holdings (NYSE:WSH), hosted Google Earth and experts from the insurance
industry at the end of April to discuss the increasing role of visual technologies in the
assessment of insurance risk. The half day seminar, held at The Willis Building in
London, was hosted by Chairman of the WRN, Rowan Douglas, and WRN Research
Director, Matthew Foote. The seminar considered the challenges of exploiting
revolutionary new technologies currently at the disposal of insurers and risk
managers. Geographic data, high resolution imaging satellites and ‘on-demand’
aerial tools were amongst the technologies discussed. Around 280 delegates from
all over Europe, including representatives from the insurance industry, academic
institutions and governmental bodies attended the event.
“We are thrilled to host so many experts from across academia and the insurance
industry” said Douglas, “This seminar is an open forum for scientists and business
experts to discuss and shape the future of visualisation technology. Technologies
have revolutionised the application of geospatial data, allowing non-specialist users
to interpret the geographical features of risk quickly and easily. Within the insurance
industry we have seen a sharp upsurge in the use of these high-specification geovisualisation
tools such as Google Earth.”
“Geovisualisation technologies are revolutionising the way risk is interpreted and
managed,” said Foote, “With these new tools we are witnessing fundamental
changes to the traditional methods of calculating insurance risks. Underwriting risk
assessments, mapping aggregate analysis and loss estimation will all change as a
result of visual insurance risk technologies being changed. The WRN is currently
researching these outputs with the help of academics from institutions and countries
based the world over.”
The Willis Research Network (WRN) is one of the world's largest partnerships
between academia and the insurance industry. Willis has so far teamed up with
sixteen leading institutions across a full range of disciplines from atmospheric
science and climate statistics, to geography, hydrology and seismology, to the
impacts on the environment via engineering, exposure analysis and GIS.
Willis Group Holdings Limited is a leading global insurance broker, developing and delivering professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 300 offices in some 100 countries, with a global team of approximately 16,000 Associates serving clients in some 190 countries. Additional information on Willis may be found at www.willis.com.