European prototype tool explores web-based flood prevention
The GFZ Potsdam German Research Centre for Geosciences has announced the development, and prototype availability, of their new online tool for web prevention. The web service, SaferPlaces, uses open data to inform new climatic, hydological, hydraulic, topographical and economic modeling techniques to map flood dangers and their potential damages. The tool has been used in communities across Europe, and may eventually affect U.S. program management as well.
The institution describes its new tool through its new press release:
Information on the extent, frequency and consequences of floods is becoming an essential basis for urban planning. To enable municipalities to plan protection and prevention measures in a targeted and efficient manner, the web-based tool SaferPlaces had begun development as part of the three-year EU project. Under the leadership of the consulting company GECOSistema, and with participation of the GFZ, three other research institutions and universities are involved in the project – as well as three other companies and the three pilot cities of Cologne (Germany), Rimini (Italy) and Pamplona (Spain).
Web service for online flood protection planning
"What is special about our system is the platform idea," says Kai Schröter, who heads the project at GFZ. "The effects of measures can be calculated and presented directly on our platform, from the inundation to the loss incurred. Corresponding scenarios can thus be played out and discussed directly by the multi-disciplinary teams in planning meetings, for example." User workshops have already taken place in Cologne with the municipal drainage companies, flood protection authorities and insurers.
To ensure that this works quickly and easily, all calculations take place in the web cloud: The users do not need any extra software, but only a browser to enter the available data. "In this way, we also want to explicitly address smaller cities and municipalities and make our tool usable in many countries and cities," Schröter emphasises.
Generally available data as a basis
The calculations are based on open data, i.e. generally available data sets such as precipitation amounts and frequency, discharges and water levels of rivers and the sea, frequency of rainfall, flow rates in rivers as well as the short- and long-term forecasts that already exist for the next two to three decades. In addition, there is information on topography, the landscape and infrastructure of the respective regions.
Mapping hazards and planning measures
Firstly, the hazards and damages can be mapped: Where does the greatest damage occur? Where does the water spread when heavy rain falls, rivers burst their banks or sea levels rise? Which buildings and infrastructures are affected and how?
Measures can then be planned on this basis. They range from modifications to existing buildings, such as raised buildings and sealed basement windows and entrances, to new or improved dikes and flood protection shields, to the creation of decentralized retention areas and infiltration ditches such as low-lying parks and green spaces that can remain flooded for weeks if necessary.
User-friendliness thanks to simplified calculation approaches
In order to be able to directly simulate the effects of the measures on the platform, the researchers - in contrast to existing software and modelling systems - explicitly pursued simplified calculation approaches. In order to keep the computing effort low, they had to develop algorithms that require as little computing capacity as possible.
Researchers at the GFZ model damage to infrastructure
While other project partners modelled natural hazards such as pluvial, fluvial and coastal flooding taking into account the topography, i.e. the shape of the landscape, the GFZ research focused on modelling damage to residential and commercial buildings. For this, additional information on the type of land use, building types such as detached houses or commercial buildings, but also on the socio-economic characteristics of the inhabitants such as their income level were taken into account. "Since we use probabilistic models, we can also describe the uncertainty associated with the predictions," Schröter emphasises.
The first phase of the project ended in July. "The three original pilot applications are running and are already quite mature, also in terms of user friendliness," Schröter sums up. In the meantime, further case studies have been added with Fuenlabrada and Coslada (Spain), Milan and Cervia (Italy), as well as Byronbay (Australia). A global application of flood hazard calculations is also possible now.
Further developments
In the future, commercial use is to be established, for example through the acquisition of licences.
In mid-July, after a successful project outline, SaferPlaces was invited to submit a full application for funding from the EIC Accelerate program by October. In this way, the EU supports projects in reaching market maturity.
SOURCE: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, via EurekAlert
