An Interactive Web-Based GIS System to Evaluate Hurricane Inundation Impacts

An interactive web-based GIS system to evaluate hurricane inundation impacts

Michael Bednarek*, Omid Alemi**, Saeed Moghimi***

* Morristown Beard School (High school), 70 Whippany Rd, Morristown, NJ.

** School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University, BC, Canada.

*** NOAA National Ocean Service, Coast Survey Development Laboratory, Silver Spring, MD.

The use of web-based geographic information systems (GIS) in a coastal environment can be beneficial for both coastal and scientific communities. With the collection of data from numerous sources and social media (e.g. FEMA API’s) and with access to model produced results for coastal inundation, we can generalize and interact with models to evaluate the impact of coastal events in an interactive and visual manner.

In order to utilize this data to generate reports from recorded impacts of historical hurricanes and compare them to inundated area resulted from a storm surge model, we perform pre and post-processing steps. In the preprocessing step, we compile a database from all the available data sources and the model results in an automated and efficient manner that allows for fast reconstruction. A collection of Python scripts are automating this process, both pulling data from various sources, as well as inserting them into a central database (PostGIS). We also designed a Python backend to provide a flexible API for connecting the database and data analysis that may be shared between several frontend projects. This backend will serve this data as requested in JSON format over HTTP, protocols chosen for compatibility, using the Flask python web framework.

As a part of the post-processing step, a web based frontend solution based on Leaflet is being developed to provide an accessible solution for visualization and interaction of such data, utilizing our python backend. This frontend allows for features like transection and local analysis of storm impact, without being limited to a single data source. We will explore using polygonal contouring and transection to further interact with this data in a way that allows for easy and insightful analysis.

The primary tools used in this system are open source allowing for further development from a community to extend upon or create further tools, or as a teaching tool to learn more about GIS and such web and data analysis tools. We test the system to visualize maximum inundation extent from superstorm Sandy and compared the maximum inundation extent from model with impacted data retrieved from FEMA databases. The goal is to create a flexible and extensible system that may be used on multiple events from the past and in the future.

Figures:

Fig. 1: Web-based GIS system data flow and process schematic

References:

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2018. Moghimi, E.P. Myers, S.V. Vinogradov, A.J. Van der Westhuysen, A. Abdolali, L. Shi, Z. Ma, A. Chawla, H. Mashriqui, T. Flowers, N. Kurkowski. Application of ESMF/NUOPC Coupled Framework for Total Water Level Studies. In AGU fall meeting 2018, DC, USA., 2018.