W(h)atR
Title: “Crowdsourcing Flood and Sea Level Rise Events”
Author/Presenter: Mark Hébert
Organization: City of Coral Gables IT Department, 2801 Salzedo St. Coral Gables, Florida 33134, mhebert@coralgables.com
Presenter Biography: Mark Hébert is the GIS Manager in the City's IT department. He manages all GIS operations and map services for the City, coordinating map activity across various department. He is currently completing the MGIS program at Penn State University World Campus, online.
Proposal for a Citizen Science, crowdsourcing application for documenting Flood and Sea Level Rise events on iOS and Android.
Abstract submitted to ESRI Developer Summit March 2018.
Purpose: Collects and aggregates locations of water inundation due to rainfall, weather, and tidal events; as well as Sea Level Rise. Enables tracking over time and location. App provides user the ability to record longitude and latitude of reported flooding; a tagged picture of the event; and a user-reported, approximate depth of the event. Allows for time and date stamping; as well as local weather snapshot for the event record.
Functions:
- User opens app and snaps a picture of a ‘flood’ event. User may add approximate depth of flood based on best guess, or a 'dipstick' measure if desired.
- System will record the longitude and latitude; the date and time; and, the local weather status of the moment.
- System can push notifications of impending rain, tide, or storms; so that users can anticipate potential flooding and document it.
- System can push notifications from other users proximate to each other to encourage reporting.
- System can push notifications of local climate or sea level rise community events or meet ups.
- System may display current weather forecast; local tide information; lunar phase information; and connect to access for evacuation routes as applicable.
Use:
- Provides long term tracking of local flooding as reported by people in the area. Allows confirmation and indicates scope of flooding. Helps to indicate sources of flooding.
- Tracking enables continual recording of areas prone to frequent flooding. Associates flood events to local weather and tide activity.
- Data can be associated to impervious surface and other runoff. Can be used to build micro-watersheds in support of storm water management.
- Data can be used in time series analysis.
