FloodViz - Visual Analytics for Assessment and Interpretation of Simulated River Flooding

Irby, D., & van der zwaag, J. (2013). FloodViz - Visual Analytics for Assessment and Interpretation of Simulated River Flooding. Virtual Costal GeoTools 2013. Myrtle Beach, SC (online conference).

River flooding has been a leading cause of loss of life and property. Hydrologists use numerical models such as HEC-RAS to simulate the flow of water in rivers to estimate the chances of flooding and the extent of the flooding. FloodViz is a tool developed by Mississippi State University in partnership with the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center. It was designed to allow scientists and forecasters within the National Weather Service to better interpret and distribute hydrologic information. It uses HEC-RAS model output and digital elevation models to generate inundation maps that can be interactively visualized in both 2D and 3D. Georeferenced imagery and shapefile data such as roads or landmarks can be combined with the inundation maps to provide contextual information. It also allows forecasters to better analyze the model results by providing uncertainty visualization of ensemble model runs.