3 ms·

If you will permit me one cautionary point, given that the deadly Texas flash floods just happened. The geomorphic reason that there is flat land next to a riv

If you will permit me one cautionary point, given that the deadly Texas flash floods just happened. The geomorphic reason that there is flat land next to a river is because it is the flood plane. That kind of land looks tempting, but can be deadly. Obviously, GIS analysis could add some kind of distance metric from a river to a usability score, but the analyst needs to know about the problem first. Just a bit of "ground truthing" from a professional geoscientist.

reedciccio 1y ago
Any architect and urban planner is aware of the problems with flatlands near river beds. It's the politicians who decide to ignore the science, known since the times of the Romans.
- eru 1y ago
  Yes. Government subsidized insurance bears much of the blame.
cyanydeez 1y ago
unfortunately, the thing that needs to be overcome is government regulations and compliance. The past 30 years have yielded tons of new hazard maps, but communities refuse to implement them in any meaningful way because of capitalism. So it really doesnt matter how good our analysis and predictive powers are if the policies are never enforced.
- Bloating 1y ago
  [flagged]
- tjwebbnorfolk 1y ago
  Government-subsidized insurance is the opposite of capitalism. If the market were allowed to operate, no one would be able to afford these houses on the coast. And in many cases that would be a good thing. Instead, the politicians have decided that beachfront property is some kind of fundamental right that we should all collectively pay for.
  - nativeit 1y ago
    I think you are sadly correct. Collectivization of beach house insurance, but not health insurance, seems like a rather apt microcosm of contemporary America.
    - tjwebbnorfolk 1y ago
      Yes. We complain about health insurance nonstop, but what we VOTE for is beach house insurance. With both our votes and our dollars. Over and over again. Everyone wants to believe that they will one day own a house on the beach. Nobody wants to believe that they will one day need the best medical care.
docsuser3 1y ago
Here in Germany we have open maps like the following that were created by the government to inform of potential flood areas: https://umweltatlas.bayern.de/mapapps/resources/apps/umweltatlas/index.html?lang=de&layers=lfu_domain-naturgefahren,service_naturgef_32,32;lfu_domain-naturgefahren,service_naturgef_33,33;lfu_domain-naturgefahren,service_naturgef_24,24&scale=18056&bm=webkarte_grau_schum https://umweltatlas.bayern.de/mapapps/resources/apps/umwelta... Everyone that buys a house or land knows these maps and checks them since the last deadly flood happened a few years ago. I cannot believe that the US decided to defund the offices that help to gather these kind of information.
- ImaCake 1y ago
  Those flood maps are common across the first world, sometimes called a "flood overlay" and there is usually also a "bushfire overlay" if you live in Australia. They help describe risk, in the insurance sense, and are presumably used for both insurance and risk management.
- mistrial9 1y ago
  of course there are flood maps here in the USA. The Federal government does some survey work, but in the US system, it is the county that is responsible for maintaining basic property and land use maps. Every State in the US is composed of county (or parish or some New England thing to be complete). The US Federal government is not defunding "everything". Also note that some parts of the US do not cooperate very much with the Federal government (mostly near Idaho area, others?). Texas regularly discusses becoming their own country, so of course Texas has its own mapping.
  - Jolter 1y ago
    Crucially, the thing they was recently de-funded was not mapping but the federal agency that does hydrology. Hydrology being the science of how water flows in the environment around us. For example, using GIS data combined with meteorological forecasts, a hydrological model may predict water levels of rivers or flood plains. If nobody is around to run the hydrological model on today’s data, you’re not getting your flood warning today.
fghorow 1y ago
s/flood plane/floodplain/ (Sorry for the typo.)
maxerickson 1y ago
In the US, 3DEP is driving towards high coverage of extremely accurate elevation data, in areas where it has coverage you wouldn't need to use a distance metric really.
- fnands 1y ago
  Working with elevation data in the US is a pleasure compared to most other countries. Freely available Lidar and derived products (via the USGS API) for nearly the entire country makes working with elevation data a pleasure.

reedciccio 1y ago

Any architect and urban planner is aware of the problems with flatlands near river beds. It's the politicians who decide to ignore the science, known since the times of the Romans.

eru 1y ago
Yes. Government subsidized insurance bears much of the blame.

cyanydeez 1y ago

unfortunately, the thing that needs to be overcome is government regulations and compliance. The past 30 years have yielded tons of new hazard maps, but communities refuse to implement them in any meaningful way because of capitalism. So it really doesnt matter how good our analysis and predictive powers are if the policies are never enforced.

Bloating 1y ago
[flagged]
tjwebbnorfolk 1y ago
Government-subsidized insurance is the opposite of capitalism. If the market were allowed to operate, no one would be able to afford these houses on the coast. And in many cases that would be a good thing. Instead, the politicians have decided that beachfront property is some kind of fundamental right that we should all collectively pay for.
- nativeit 1y ago
  I think you are sadly correct. Collectivization of beach house insurance, but not health insurance, seems like a rather apt microcosm of contemporary America.
  - tjwebbnorfolk 1y ago
    Yes. We complain about health insurance nonstop, but what we VOTE for is beach house insurance. With both our votes and our dollars. Over and over again. Everyone wants to believe that they will one day own a house on the beach. Nobody wants to believe that they will one day need the best medical care.

docsuser3 1y ago

Here in Germany we have open maps like the following that were created by the government to inform of potential flood areas: https://umweltatlas.bayern.de/mapapps/resources/apps/umweltatlas/index.html?lang=de&layers=lfu_domain-naturgefahren,service_naturgef_32,32;lfu_domain-naturgefahren,service_naturgef_33,33;lfu_domain-naturgefahren,service_naturgef_24,24&scale=18056&bm=webkarte_grau_schum https://umweltatlas.bayern.de/mapapps/resources/apps/umwelta... Everyone that buys a house or land knows these maps and checks them since the last deadly flood happened a few years ago. I cannot believe that the US decided to defund the offices that help to gather these kind of information.

ImaCake 1y ago
Those flood maps are common across the first world, sometimes called a "flood overlay" and there is usually also a "bushfire overlay" if you live in Australia. They help describe risk, in the insurance sense, and are presumably used for both insurance and risk management.
mistrial9 1y ago
of course there are flood maps here in the USA. The Federal government does some survey work, but in the US system, it is the county that is responsible for maintaining basic property and land use maps. Every State in the US is composed of county (or parish or some New England thing to be complete). The US Federal government is not defunding "everything". Also note that some parts of the US do not cooperate very much with the Federal government (mostly near Idaho area, others?). Texas regularly discusses becoming their own country, so of course Texas has its own mapping.
- Jolter 1y ago
  Crucially, the thing they was recently de-funded was not mapping but the federal agency that does hydrology. Hydrology being the science of how water flows in the environment around us. For example, using GIS data combined with meteorological forecasts, a hydrological model may predict water levels of rivers or flood plains. If nobody is around to run the hydrological model on today’s data, you’re not getting your flood warning today.

fghorow 1y ago

s/flood plane/floodplain/ (Sorry for the typo.)

maxerickson 1y ago

In the US, 3DEP is driving towards high coverage of extremely accurate elevation data, in areas where it has coverage you wouldn't need to use a distance metric really.

fnands 1y ago
Working with elevation data in the US is a pleasure compared to most other countries. Freely available Lidar and derived products (via the USGS API) for nearly the entire country makes working with elevation data a pleasure.