3D FLOOD-RISK MODELS OF GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE

Simulating and predicting floods and its effects on utilities provides powerful visual representation for decision making on when buildings in the flood zone may be safe for people to occupy. Traditional paper maps and digital maps may not give us the possibility to do a 3D visualization in order to study the detailed effect of a flood situation on utilities. This research explores LiDAR data and the application of 3D modelling in order to provide an analysis of the risk of floods on government buildings and utilities. LiDAR data provides a cheaper, faster and denser multidimensional coverage of features for 3D mapping. LiDAR data was acquired for the city of Fredericton in 2007. This data was processed to generate 3D maps. By employing accurate coordinate conversion and transformations with respect to the geoid, a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) was created. Flood polygons were created for 0.2m intervals in height for the study area. Initial study allows for this interval to be considered, since little difference in flooding behaviour is noticeable below this interval. To further strengthen visual perception, 3D buildings, infrastructure and utilities were modelled for the study area. The DTM and the 3D models of the government buildings, infrastructure and utilities were intersected. The resulting view does not only register a new scenario but also provides a more realistic outlook of the buildings and infrastructure during floods. Finally, a flood scene was produced for each of the forecasted flood levels for visualization via Web interface.