An Immersive System for 3D Floods Visualization and Analysis

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.

This paper is devoted to 3D modelling at the city level from data sources considered as open. The open data presented in this paper enable free usage, modifications, and sharing by anyone for any purpose. The main motivation was to verify feasibility of a 3D visualization of floods purely based on open technologies and data. The presented state-of-the-art analysis comprises the evaluation of available 3D open data sources, including formats, Web-based technologies, and software used for visualizations of 3D models. A pilot Web application visualizing floods was developed to verify the applicability of discovered data sources. 3D visualizations of terrain models, 3D buildings, flood areas, flood walls and other related information are available in a pilot application for a selected part of the city of Prague. The management of different types of input data, the design of interactive functionality including navigation aids, and actual limitations and opportunities for future development are discussed in detail at the end.

2017

The work presented in this paper was partially funded by the ongoing H2020 EC project EU-CIRCLE (2015-2018), GA 653824.

2016

The FLOOD AR project originates from an explicitly expressed need for digital 3D temporal georeferenced models that can be largely diffused among riverside residents through computers and mobile devices, in order to support the raising of public awareness concerning flood risk along the Rhone river. This project is led by a multidisciplinary consortium of researchers from several fields who are working together to develop usable tools and models as well as recommendations regarding visual content, interfaces and context of use for those 3D models. As far as computer science is concerned, given the practical difficulties of resorting to 3D georeferenced technologies for practitioners and the current limitations of commonly used GIS data formats and tools, automatic tools allowing any interested parties to produce 3D temporal models in order to support flood risk awareness' enhancement were developed in the first phase of the project. The storage of those 3D models in an interoper...

The large and ever-increasing amounts of multidimensional, time-varying and geospatial digital information from multiple sources represent a major challenge for today's analysts. We present a set of visualization techniques that can be used for the interactive analysis of geo-referenced and time sampled data sets, providing an integrated mechanism and that aids the user to collaboratively explore, present and communicate visually complex and dynamic data. Here we present these concepts in the context of a 4 hour flood scenario from Lisbon in 2010, with data that includes measures of water column (flood height) every 10 minutes at a 4.5 m x 4.5 m resolution, topography, building damage, building information, and online base maps. Techniques we use include web-based linked views, multiple charts, map layers and storytelling. We explain two of these in more detail that are not currently in common use for visualization of data: storytelling and web-based linked views. Visual storyte...

2019

Flood is a natural disaster caused directly by excessive amount of rain water, or indirectly by the global warming. Flood information can be disseminated using visual media such as 3D flood modelling. This study uses qualitative methods to review frequently used computer tools in 3D flood modelling. Currently, the generated 3D geovisualization results produced by the 3D modelling tools are lacking in terms of their aesthetics value. The purpose of this study is to analyse and select effective 3D geovisualization tools that could be merged with multimedia tools to create better aesthetics images. This study can offer insights into creating future 3D geovisualization based on spatial and non-spatial data that are more realistic and rich with aesthetics value. The analysis was conducted using SWOT analysis in order to find out strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of each tools. Result shows that some commonly used 3D geovisualization tools such as ArcGIS and FME can be comb...

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.

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2015

Developing strategies to mitigate or to adapt to the threats of floods is an important topic in the context of climate changes. Many of the world's cities are endangered due to rising ocean levels and changing precipitation patterns. It is therefore crucial to develop analytical tools that allow us to evaluate the threats of floods and to investigate the influence of mitigation and adaptation measures, such as stronger dikes, adaptive spatial planning, and flood disaster plans. Up until the present, analytical tools have only been accessible to Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change domain experts, as the involved simulation processes are complex and rely on computational and data-intensive models. Outputs of these analytical tools are presented to practitioners (i.e., policy analysts and political decision-makers) on maps or in graphical user interfaces. In practice, this output is only used in limited measure because practitioners often have different information requirements or do not trust the direct outcome. Nonetheless, literature indicates that a closer collaboration between domain experts and practitioners can ensure that the information requirements of practitioners are better aligned with the opportunities and limitations of analytical tools. The objective of our work is to present a step forward in the effort to make analytical tools in flood management accessible for practitioners to support this collaboration between domain experts and practitioners. Our system allows the user to interactively control the simulation process (addition of water sources or influence of rainfall), while a realistic visualization allows the user to mentally map the results onto the real world. We have developed several novel algorithms to present and interact with flood data. We explain the technologies, discuss their necessity alongside test cases, and introduce a user study to analyze the reactions of practitioners to our system. We conclude that, despite the complexity of flood simulation models and the size of the involved data sets, our system is accessible for practitioners of flood management so that they can carry out flood simulations together with domain experts in interactive work sessions. Therefore, this work has the potential to significantly change the decision-making process and may become an important asset in choosing sustainable flood mitigations and adaptation strategies.

Visual Information Systems. …, 2008

In this paper we describe a visualization system for an emergency simulation. We start by presenting a flooding emergency case scenario and all the elements that are involved in it. Then we describe the design decisions that were made in order to create a credible representation of the scene. This includes using a game engine to render the scenario using a three-dimensional terrain, with objects and information retrieved from geographic information systems. Additionally we describe experiments with new touch and tangible devices that support a war table like interaction with the simulation. We further describe our ideas for the emergency interface and conclude describing the directions for future work.

Geo-information for Disaster Management, 2005

Linkoping University (LiU) has developed a Visual User Interface and Web-enabled advanced 3D visualisation to a flood forecasting system in an EC funded project named MUSIC. The project develops state-of-the-art precipitation estimation algorithms, assess their uncertainty and use an innovative combination of the output data of the three independent data sources radar, satellite and rain gauges. The basic role of any real-time quantitative precipitation and flood forecasting system lies in its capability, within the forecasting horizon, of assessing and reducing the uncertainty in forecasts of future events in order to allow improved warnings and operational decisions for the reduction of flood risk. In line with this requirement, the MUSIC project is to develop an innovative technique for improving the weather radar, weather satellite and rain gauge derived precipitation data, taken as independent measurement source. Another key objective is seeking to improve the communication and the dissemination of results to the authorities involved in real-time flood forecasting and management. The project tests the system on real world case studies on two test catchments the Reno and Arno rivers in Italy. LiU is developing the innovative 3D Visual User Interface that will enable the users to take a more active role in the process of visualising and investigating flood forecasting, allowing them to better understand the data and uncertainty behind the forecasting system. LiU also provides easy-to-use collaborative visualisation tools enabling the meteorologists, hydrologists, operations managers and the civil defence manager to view and discuss the forecasting results in real time across the network before finally interacting with the media, the police, other officials and the public. The system will considerably improve the flash flood forecasting reliability and precision and will shorten the time required to detect events that lead to catastrophic flood events.