Patent ID: 8229766

Claim:
A method for locating specific concentrations of risk exposure on a geographical grid, the method comprising: subdividing using one or more processors a latitude and longitude grid into a predetermined number of cells corresponding to a plurality of levels of grid resolution, each cell having a geocoded point associated therewith for representing a geocoded location; assigning using the one or more processors a geographic identifier to each geocoded point, the geographic identifier including indicia representative of one of the plurality of levels of grid resolution; generating using the one or more processors a plurality of geographic identifiers for each geocoded location, each one of the plurality of geographic identifiers corresponding to one of the plurality of levels of grid resolution; obtaining using the one or more processors one or more geocoded points associated with corresponding one or more of the predetermined number of cells within a particular geographical region in which to locate risk exposure; retrieving using the one or more processors hazard data from a hazard table for at least one of the predetermined number of cells using the geographic identifier associated with the at least one of the predetermined number of cells corresponding to one of the plurality of levels of grid resolution, wherein the hazard table includes hazard data for the geocoded location which is associated with the plurality of geographic identifiers covering the plurality of levels of grid resolution, wherein a resolution of the hazard data corresponds to a resolution of the at least one of the predetermined number of cells, and wherein the hazard data includes a weighted average of hazard values distributed across the at least one of the predetermined number of cells; verifying using the one or more processors a presence of hazard data from a hazard table for the geographic identifier associated with the at least one cell that corresponds to a highest level of grid resolution associated with the geographic identifier; determining using the one or more processors whether the hazard table includes hazard data for that cell at the highest level of grid resolution, and acquiring that hazard data when it is determined that the hazard table includes hazard data for that cell at the highest level of grid resolution; and determining using the one or more processors whether the hazard table does not include hazard data for that cell at the highest level of grid resolution, and adjusting the geographic identifier to a lower level of grid resolution when it is determined that the hazard table does not include hazard data for that cell at the highest level of grid resolution.