B747 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 207; Flight Crew Total 9189; Flight Crew Type 6134
Workload; Confusion
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Aircraft; Human Factors; Weather
Preflight forcast indicated numerous horizontal shears and areas of moderate turbulence across the Pacific.  Dispatch provided information available at the time.  Normally; I am able to get real-time graphic updates via aircraft WiFi; WSI updates on our iPad EFBs; and or ACARS Dispatch notes.  Today; as is becoming the norm; WiFi was inop on this aircraft.  Dispatch provided at least 5 turbulence advisories as we proceeded along [our] route of flight.  These advisories are generated by WSI and are in a format that includes 'boxes' delineated by points defined by Lat/Long and or by Fix/bearing/Dist.  This particular flight I received three moderate turbulence advisories issued almost simultaneously that included; between the three;  THIRTY-THREE fixes.  One advisory [used] 18 fixes to define the advisory area.  The fixes included a mix of Lat/Long and P/B/dist fixes.  It took an inordinant amount of time; and was a major distracting factor; to digest; plot; and react to the textual information provided by WSI.  The first issue was the sheer number of fixes.  I believe a useable 'Box' can be defined with 4-6 points.  WSI's attempt at accuracy is not a positive factor in the ultimate safety of the operation; because it requires much time to digest and plot; electronically on the map display; or on the paper plotting chart.  I actually was exiting an area of the turbulence advisory; before I realized it applied to my route of flight.  Another major issue with the useability of the fixes is that it is simply not possible to electronically depict more than two Fix/Bearing/Dist. points on the Map Display electronically.  I queried Our dispatcher and he expressed some mutual frustration in the format of the WSI advisories.  He even indicated that changes were requested from the dispatch end of the information flow - with no result.  This is my attempt to express 'End-User' frustration with the quality of these advisories.  I believe turbulence is one of the FAAs and the company's 'Hot Items'.  Let's get this fixed.
B747 Captain laments having to plot numerous latitude and longitude fix's to define an area of turbulence when graphical updates are not available for some reason.