Flood Risk Communication Using ArcGIS StoryMaps

The Geographical Journal, 2019

This paper considers the development and evaluation of a Google Earth “virtual globe” tour for communicating spatial data and engaging stakeholders in the early stages of a natural flood management (NFM) planning scenario, using a rural UK river catchment that suffered significant flooding in 2007. With a range of diverse stakeholder interests to consider, early engagement and the development of trust before decision-making are essential for the long-term success of such catchment-wide projects. A local catchment group was consulted to identify key information requirements, and from this a “virtual globe” tour was created. The process involved specialist skills and expert leadership, but the end result was accessible to a range of audiences. User evaluation indicated that it was easy to navigate and can be used to stimulate interest and engage stakeholders. Participants trusted the content and valued the interactivity of the tour. It was helpful for communicating and educating participants about the catchment, the issues it faces, and the potential to incorporate NFM, particularly for those with little or no prior knowledge. More abstract information was harder to convey and there were limitations in the availability of suitable data for some variables and the in quality of satellite imagery. This exploratory research found that a Google Earth “virtual globe” tour can be a valuable tool in the initial stages of an NFM project, but there are also opportunities to use this technique in the more advanced stages of the planning process. The approach could be used as part of a wider toolkit for communication and engagement and has potential as a decision support tool in other environmental management scenarios with requirements for public participation, enabling the views of a range of participants to be captured through online distribution and to generate discussion in workshop settings.

Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 2013

In response to the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC), flood hazard maps are currently produced all over Europe, reflecting a wider shift in focus from "flood protection" to "risk management", for which not only public authorities but also populations at risk are seen as responsible. By providing a visual image of the foreseen consequences of flooding, flood hazard maps can enhance people's knowledge about flood risk, making them more capable of an adequate response. Current literature, however, questions the maps' awareness raising capacity, arguing that their content and design are rarely adjusted to laypeople's needs. This paper wants to complement this perspective with a focus on risk communication by studying how these tools are disseminated and marketed to the public in the first place. Judging from communication theory, simply making hazard maps publicly available is unlikely to lead to attitudinal or behavioral effects, since this typically requires two-way communication and material or symbolic incentives. Consequently, it is relevant to investigate whether and how local risk managers, who are well positioned to interact with the local population, make use of flood hazard maps for risk communication purposes. A qualitative case study of this issue in the German state of Baden-Württemberg suggests that many municipalities lack a clear strategy for using this new information tool for hazard and risk communication. Four barriers in this regard are identified: perceived disinterest/sufficient awareness on behalf of the population at risk; unwillingness to cause worry or distress; lack of skills and resources; and insufficient support. These barriers are important to address-in research as well as in practice-since it is only if flood hazard maps are used to enhance local knowledge resources that they can be expected to contribute to social capacity building.

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences

Flood hazard mapping in the United States (US) is deeply tied to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Consequently, publicly available flood maps provide essential information for insurance purposes, but they do not necessarily provide relevant information for non-insurance aspects of flood risk management (FRM) such as public education and emergency planning. Recent calls for flood hazard maps that support a wider variety of FRM tasks highlight the need to deepen our understanding about the factors that make flood maps useful and understandable for local end users. In this study, social scientists and engineers explore opportunities for improving the utility and relevance of flood hazard maps through the co-production of maps responsive to end users' FRM needs. Specifically, two-dimensional flood modeling produced a set of baseline hazard maps for stakeholders of the Tijuana River valley, US, and Los Laureles Canyon in Tijuana, Mexico. Focus groups with natural resource managers, city planners, emergency managers, academia, nonprofit, and community leaders refined the baseline hazard maps by triggering additional modeling scenarios and map revisions. Several important end user preferences emerged, such as (1) legends that frame flood intensity both qualitatively and quantitatively, and (2) flood scenario descriptions that report flood magnitude in terms of rainfall, streamflow, and its relation to an historic event. Regarding desired hazard map content, end users' requests revealed general consistency with mapping needs reported in European studies and guidelines published in Australia. However, requested map content that is not commonly produced included (1) standing water depths following the flood, (2) the erosive potential of flowing water, and (3) pluvial flood hazards, or flooding caused directly by rainfall. We conclude that the relevance and utility of commonly produced flood hazard maps can be most improved by illustrating pluvial flood hazards and by using concrete reference points to describe flooding scenarios rather than exceedance probabilities or frequencies.

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management, 2020

Story maps are widespread as an interactive tool used for science and spatial data communication, information and dissemination. A web-based application using story mapping technology is presented here to highlight places of interest around Corinth Gulf (Greece), a new addition in Natura 2000 areas. A tailored story map that combines thematic webmaps and scenes (3D webmaps) generated through a Geographic Information System (GIS) having a great impact on web-based visual presentations with narrative text and multimedia content was created to highlight the geological and cultural environment of the area around Corinth Gulf.

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 2013

and sharing with colleagues.

Routledge Handbook of Environmental Security, 2021

Feldman, David L. and Richard Elelman. 2018. "The Future of Citizen Engagement in Cities-The Council of Citizen Engagement in Sustainable Urban Strategies (ConCensus)," Futures The journal of policy, planning and futures studies 101: 80-91.

International Journal of Risk and Contingency Management, 2012

Communication plays an essential role in risk awareness when the gap between the risk perception and the actual risk depends on correct knowledge. This study investigates public risk awareness and public participation, as part of the European project Integrative flood risk governance approach for improvement of risk awareness and increased public participation (IMRA). The focus is on perceptions of flood risk awareness in the river basin of Chiascio (Umbria-Italy). The survey method is used to analyze flood risk awareness perception before and after an experimental communication intervention with school students. First, the authors examine flood risk awareness of school student families and friends across the population sample region. Then the authors use a unique combination of exercises – a role play game, an exhibition, and a public competition – to improve risk awareness in school children and their families. Finally, the authors test the effectiveness of this intervention in te...

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering, 2014

This paper reports on the creation of a three-dimensional visualisation of flooding in Exeter, UK, which was used to raise awareness of residual and future flood risk. It has proved to be a powerful tool in changing perceptions of flood risk without waiting for a real flood event to occur, resulting in it being trialled elsewhere in the UK. The paper discusses the data, procedures and techniques employed in creating the visualisation and how it was used to communicate flood risk issues to the general public using simulation and visualisation tools. It includes a summary of the feedback from both Exeter and the national extended trial, and explores the future application of three-dimensional flood visualisation in flood risk management.

ArcGIS Explorer Desktop and ArcGIS Explorer Online are useful platforms designed to rapidly create maps for non-GIS professionals. This paper provides an overview of how to use some of these versatile mapping tools to generate and publish maps. In this study, we are utilizing practical examples of watershed related projects in North Dakota. Topics and skillsets include how to use base maps from the ArcGIS Online map gallery, entering GPS points and importing images into a mapping system, tips for the utilization of raster and vector data, creating and publishing final maps using ArcGIS Online. Practical examples on how (a) to use online resources to determine flood risk areas and (b) how to blend in situ water quality data with GIS data are demonstrated. Overlaying vector features, a generic GIS technique, on top of the raster layer provides a valuable tool for visualizing and delineating vulnerable areas in a flooding scenario. The examples employed in this study stem from Devils L...

Low elevation coastal areas are vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise and to an increase in the frequency and severity of storm surge events due to climate change. Coastal urban areas are at risk because coastal flooding causes extensive damage to energy and transportation infrastructure, disruptions to the delivery of services, devastating tolls on the public's health and, occasionally, significant loss of life. Although scientists widely stress the compelling need to mitigate and adapt to climate change, public awareness lags behind. Because WebGIS maps (web-based geographic information systems) quickly convey strong messages, condense complex information, engage people in issues of environmental change, and motivate personal actions, this paper focusses on searching the ideal flood assessment WebGIS method to encourage people to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Surveys demonstrated that 3D visualisations have an enormous added value because they are more vivid and therefore more understandable and make it easier to imagine the consequences of a flood than 2D visualisations. In this research, the WebGIS will be created using Ol3-Cesium and open layers to visualise a flood event by dynamic layers in a 2D/3D environment.

Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2002

Watershed stewardship activities throughout North America have evolved into a process that requires more involvement in planning and decision making by community stakeholders. Active involvement of all stakeholders in the process of watershed stewardship is dependent on effective exchange of information among participants, and active involvement of a wide range of stakeholders from "communities of place" as well as those from "communities of interest." We developed a map-based stream narrative tool as a means to: (a) assemble a wealth of incompletely documented, "traditional" ecological or natural history observations for rivers or streams; and (b) promote a higher level of active involvement by community stakeholders in contributing to informationbased, watershed management. Creation of stream narratives is intended for use as a tool to actively engage local stakeholders in the development of a more comprehensive information system to improve management for multiple stewardship objectives in watersheds. Completion of map-based stream narrative atlases provides a valuable supplement to other independent efforts to assemble observations and knowledge about land-based natural resources covering entire watersheds. We are confident that completion of stream narrative projects will make a valuable addition to the information and decision making tools that are currently available to the public and resource agencies interested in advancing the cause of community-based approaches to watershed and ecosystem management.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2016

Modelling and communicating scientific data are paramount in Disaster planning, yet is not easily communicated and interpreted by non-expert stakeholders. These stakeholders are important to the disaster response planning because they can provide firsthand experience and knowledge not capture by quantitative methods. This project aimed to develop a method for catching the attention of community members and engaging them in disaster preparation discussions around real data. A scale model visualisation tool was developed that allows users to interact with flood levels and visualise the impact on their community. Using an "in the wild" Human Computer Interaction (HCI) field trial approach, we found community members engaged in self-directed discussions with strangers about the mitigation of floods and the current zoning of new housing estates in flood prone areas. TerrainVis has helped residents understand the significance of disaster preparation and changed perspectives on evacuation plans by situating them within the data.

The urban book series, 2021

The burgeoning development of coastal cities coupled with increasing exposure to sea level rise and extreme weather events has exacerbated the vulnerability of coastal communities and infrastructure to floods. In order to make good flood risk reduction and resilience decisions, cities are interested in gaining better insights into what are perceived to be the "real" risks of floods. However, what counts as a good estimate of such risks is constructed through the design of a knowledge system that ratifies certain ideas and methods over others. We refer to knowledge systems as the organizational practices and routines that produce, validate and review, communicate, and use knowledge relevant to policy and decision-making. In this chapter, we conduct a knowledge system analysis of FEMA's Flood Insurance Rate Maps in New York City. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy exposed in the national spotlight the shortcomings of how we calculate, map, and use knowledge about flood risk. Through this case study, we hope to demonstrate the value of knowledge systems analysis as a method to stress-test and identify the weaknesses of a knowledge system that warrant attention, as well as to inform potential methods ofupgrading or redesigning that system in support of building resilient cities.

2016

Public engagement continues to be transformed by the explosion of new digital technologies/tools, software platforms, social media networks, mobile devices, and mobile apps. Recent changes in geospatial technology offer new opportunities for use in participatory planning processes. Yet, civic tech as a movement, and public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) as a discipline, have somewhat lagged behind the proliferation of new digital tools that can be leveraged for public engagement purposes. This project explores the evolving technology landscape and use of GIS Story Maps as a tool to empower and engage stakeholders in participatory planning processes. This research incorporated both a literature review and cases studies as research methods. The Nick J. Rahall, II Appalachian Transportation Institute (RTI) at Marshall University and Institute for Public Administration (IPA) at the University of Delaware research team's case-study approach demonstrates that GIS Story Maps can help to fulfill mandates for an open government and public involvement by incorporating the use of interactive digital engagement tools into participatory planning processes. Preliminary research suggests that online, interactive GIS Story Maps are ideal for fostering citizen engagement, providing meaningful context to complex topics and concepts, and empowering informed decision making. Additional research is suggested and needs to be informed by empirical evidence that either supports or refutes this premise.

Journal of Flood Risk Management, 2010

Efforts are intensifying to design effective flood management strategies that account for a changing climate and that make use of the wealth of resources and latent capacities associated with action at the local level. Municipalities, however, are subject to a host of challenges and barriers to action, revealing the critical need for sophisticated participatory processes in support of municipal decision-making under conditions of considerable uncertainty. This paper examines a new process for envisioning local climate change futures, which uses an iterative, collaborative, multistakeholder approach to produce computer-generated 3-dimensional images of climate change futures in the flood-prone municipality of Delta, British Columbia, Canada. The process appeared to forge communicative partnerships, which may improve the legitimacy and effectiveness of the flood management and climate change response discourse in the municipality of Delta, and may lead to locally specific and integrated flood management and climate change response strategies. We concluded that, while an enabling context and normative pressures are clearly integral to effective action, so too is the type and mode of presentation of information about climate futures.