The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Predication Service (AHPS) and Water Resource Program have been pursuing flood inundation mapping in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Administration's (FEMA) Map Modernization Project. Building on lessons learned through participation in the Weather and Society Integrated Studies (WAS*IS) Summer 2007 workshop, integrated social science research methods will be used to learn why and how the general public and public officials will utilize flood inundation maps and what societal impacts the maps have on communities.

Findings will be presented from interviews and focus groups conducted in a community where NOAA NWS flood inundation maps have been made available on NOAA NWS web pages. The tentative results of these interviews and focus groups will uncover why and how people interpret the maps and the decisions they hope to base on the maps in response to flooding hazards. The questions in the interviews and focus groups were written in attempt to determine what role flood inundation maps play in planning, mitigation, and improved prediction of flood hazards. Assessing how communities responded prior to the availability of flood inundation maps and how they may respond in the future where these maps are now available will help federal agencies focus research and operations to better prevent impacts and losses in the future. Learning more about the role of flood inundation maps in community decision making processes will help answer questions related to NOAA NWS future flood mapping endeavors.

The physical science research it takes to develop flood inundation maps should not be performed in isolation. Emergency managers, flood plain managers, and federal agencies should call for better insights into the relationship between these sciences and decisions. The results and evaluation of this interdisciplinary research will also be important to discuss in the broader scope of the overall evaluation of the success of interdisciplinary research.