With nearly half of Georgia’s counties declared as being in a state of emergency last Friday, local officials had another opportunity to use a fairly new tool to help get the word out. A recent partnership between the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia (OAAG) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) allows for the use of donated digital billboard space to alert the public in emergency situations in real time. The recently activated emergency warning system links digital billboards in affected areas to GEMA’s live Twitter feed. By using certain hashtags, the digital billboards can be updated in real time according to the hashtags used in the tweets issued from GEMA.
As soon as the emergency was declared, messages with warnings to motorists were posted on digital billboards around the metro Atlanta area and beyond, allowing motorists to get up to the minute travel advisories. The planning has been going on for a few years now. The idea came about back in 2014 when a winter storm crippled the metro area, stranding thousands of drivers on metro Atlanta roadways. The public/private partnership came about when the head of OAAG, Connor Poe, initiated talks with the state agencies responsible for sounding the alarm when a weather event is approaching. The goal was to get direct access to digital billboards in emergency situations.
The system was put in place and passed initial testing in both 2015 and 2016, before going live with Hurricane Matthew warnings in October 2016. Karlene Barron, the Communications Director for Georgia Department of Transportation, says the billboards have been an “invaluable resource” in emergency situations.
Although we are getting a taste of Spring this week, winter is far from over. So if you are out and about when more winter weather threatens the area, be sure to look to Atlanta’s digital billboards for the most recent warnings and information.