ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The ever-increasing massive amounts of multisensor, multidimensional and timevarying digital information streams represent a major challenge for emergency operations. A solution to this challenge could be found in the emerging Visual Analytics (VA), the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces and creative visualization. This chapter will address the use of VA technology in emergency response based on flood forecasting as a means of risk communication as well as risk exploration. A flood forecasting tool “FloodViewer”, developed with the spirit of VA, is demonstrated and evaluated based on a real world case study scenario in Italy during the near-flooding event that occurred on November 20-21, 2000 along the Arno River that floats through Florence. This prototype highlights the different approaches that can be used in explorative visualization and illustrates the use of dynamic and animated time geovisualization that targets improved flood forecast insights such as how flood level could rise based on precipitation data from gauge stations and radar. The proposed visual methods could encourage the development of new tools and improve the flood forecasting reliability and precision and hopefully shorten the time required to detect events that lead to catastrophic flood events.
