Development of a spatial decision support system for flood risk management in Brazil that combines volunteered geographic information with wireless sensor networks

Author(s)

Horita, Flavio E. A. ^[1] ; de Albuquerque, Joao Porto ^[1] ; Degrossi, Livia C. ^[1] ; Mendiondo, Eduardo M. ^{[2, 3]} ; Ueyama, Jo ^{[1, 4]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, ICMC USP, Inst Math & Comp Sci, Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, EESC USP, Sao Carlos Sch Engn, Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

^[3] CEMADEN MCTI, Minist Sci Tech & Innovat, Brazilian Ctr Monitoring & Early Warning Nat Disa, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

^[4] Heidelberg Univ, Dept Geog, GI Sci Grp, D-69115 Heidelberg - Germany

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Computers & Geosciences; v. 80, p. 84-94, JUL 2015.
• Web of Science Citations: 42

Abstract

Effective flood risk management requires updated information to ensure that the correct decisions can be made. This can be provided by Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which are a low-cost means of collecting updated information about rivers. Another valuable resource is Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) which is a comparatively new means of improving the coverage of monitored areas because it is able to supply supplementary information to the WSN and thus support decision-making in flood risk management. However, there still remains the problem of how to combine WSN data with VGI. In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate AGORA-DS, which is a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) that is able to make flood risk management more effective by combining these data sources, i.e. WSN with VGI. This approach is built over a conceptual model that complies with the interoperable standards laid down by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) - e.g. Sensor Observation Service (SOS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) - and seeks to combine and present unified information in a web-based decision support tool. This work was deployed in a real scenario of flood risk management in the town of So Carlos in Brazil. The evidence obtained from this deployment confirmed that interoperable standards can support the integration of data from distinct data sources. In addition, they also shqw that VG! is able to provide information about areas of the river basin which lack data since there is no appropriate station in the area. Hence it provides a valuable support for the WSN data. It can thus be concluded that AGORA-DS is able to combine information provided by WSN and VGI, and provide useful information for supporting flood risk management. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/22550-0 - Exploiting the sensor web and participatory sensing approaches for urban river monitoring
• Grantee: Jó Ueyama
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 08/58161-1 - Assessment of impacts and vulnerability to climate change in Brazil and strategies for adaptation option
• Grantee: Jose Antonio Marengo Orsini
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 12/18675-1 - AGORA: a geospatial open collaborative architecture for building resilience against disasters and climate change impacts in vulnerable communities
• Grantee: João Porto de Albuquerque
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research