\u201cWe realized that cutting-edge hydrological modeling, image\nprocessing and real-time sensing techniques could be brought together to help\ncitizens, city administrators and first responders better react to flooding\nand, ideally, be warned of imminent flooding before the water arrives\u201d said Doerry, a professor in the School\nof Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS). \u201cThe system will\nintegrate numerous data streams to calculate real-time maps of current and\nupcoming flooding and can then send a notification to citizens in endangered areas.\nThis is really what being a smart city means to us: the city keeps an eye on\nthreats and warns citizens in appropriate ways.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key to making all of this happen is finding clever,\nlow-cost, low-impact ways to gather accurate water level readings in real-time\nfrom as many places around the city as possible. Most cities, including Flagstaff, already\nhave some flow monitoring equipment placed in various washes and drainages\naround the city. The challenge in getting more of this equipment is the sensors\nare so expensive that neither the city nor FloodAware can afford many of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solution explored by the FloodAware project is to\ndevelop smart image processing techniques to determine water level from a\nsimple snapshot image. If this could be done, researchers could piggyback on\nthe hundreds of cameras already in place in the city to control traffic lights,\nmonitor intersections and deploy as public webcams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Citizens will soon be strongly encouraged to participate in\nmaking their city smarter as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen a simple snapshot image becomes a valuable data point,\nevery citizen with a cell phone will be able to contribute to improving flood\nmap accuracy, as well as get real-time information on flood dangers right on\ntheir cell phone,\u201d Doerry said. \u201cCitizen-contributed readings collected in this\nway can make a huge difference. We\u2019ll never have enough cameras to cover all\nplaces that flooding happens. People tend to take pictures of flooding anyway\nto show their friends, and this could provide a high-volume data stream right\nwhen and where we need it, right where flooding is the worst.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Business-flooding-1024x768.jpg\")
As the project moves into its second year this fall, residents\nwill be able to download a prototype of the FloodAware mobile app to their smartphones.\nWhenever they see flooding happening, they can snap a picture with the app,\nwhich will use smart image processing to determine the water depth and\nintegrate this reading into the evolving flood maps on the central server. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This approach to data collection using citizens and their\ncell phones as a powerful data stream is called \u201ccrowd-sourcing\u201d and has\nalready proven its value in numerous other contexts. For instance, the popular\ntraffic navigation app Waze uses crowdsourcing to generate timely and accurate\ninformation on urban traffic flows to help users avoid slow-downs or jams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe city is excited to partner with NAU in developing technologies that will help with public safety and designing flood resilient communities,\u201d said Edward Schenk, stormwater section project manager for the city of Flagstaff. \u201cThe timing of this study works well with moving forward with the Rio de Flag Flood Control Project and the rapid expansion of our own real-time rain and stream gauge flood alert system. The camera system can work well in neighborhoods historically known to flood, while traditional stream gauges can continue to provide flood monitoring in the washes and streams, combining these two sources of data will help scientists and engineers determine how to improve storm water drains, pipes and detention basins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the initial year of the project, the focus has been on\ndeveloping the fundamental technologies and algorithms needed to make\nFloodAware a reality. In addition to the city\u2019s traffic control cameras around\ntown, the team has developed specialized solar-powered camera systems that will\nallow them to explore what kinds and resolution of images are best suited to\ndrive the smart image processing algorithms that determine water level from a\nsnapshot. A total of 10 of these cameras are being installed in flood-prone\nlocations in Flagstaff and Phoenix. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These cameras, which don\u2019t move or take video and are narrowly\nfocused at the curb level, will take and upload snapshots at frequencies\nranging from once every 24 hours to a maximum of once per minute during heavy\nrain events. The snapshots are sent to the central FloodAware server, which\napplies artificial intelligence and other algorithms to determine the water\nlevel at that point. Combining all such values from all cameras will allow the\nsystem to generate a real-time flood map. From there, feeding all current water\nlevels into the real-time modeling system will allow predictions of imminent\nflooding. The flood maps generated in this way would then be made available,\nboth through a website and the FloodAware mobile app, to city officials, first\nresponders and citizens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Put all of this together, Doerry said, and you get the big\npicture: Creating a simple \u201cshrink-wrapped\u201d flood monitoring solution complete\nwith camera recommendations, algorithms and tools needed so any city manager anywhere\nin the country can easily connect their community into a nationwide FloodAware\nsmart city network. In the even bigger picture, having thousands of FloodAware\nsmart cities online across the nation will provide enormous new streams of high\nvalue urban water flow data to feed the national water model being developed at\nNOAA\u2019s new National Water Center<\/a>\nwith the ambitious goal of understanding water movement across the entire\nsurface of our nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The FloodAware project is funded through a Smart &\nConnected Communities (S&CC) grant from the National Science Foundation (#1831475).\nThe purpose of the S&CC program is to use innovative technology to make\nU.S. cities smarter and make life in urban areas more efficient, safe and fast.\nIt also requires grantees to discuss how to make their project sustainable in\nthe long-term for their and city and others throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe city of the future will be smart and connected, and\nthat includes connecting people with much more rapid and more accurate\ninformation about flooding in their community,\u201d Ruddell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People interested in learning more about FloodAware can contact\nDoerry and Ruddell at Benjamin.ruddell@nau.edu<\/a>\nand Eck.Doerry@nau.edu<\/a>. In the\nmeantime, keep an eye out for the flood cameras, flood gauge signs posted at\nkey washes and flooding areas around Flagstaff and Phoenix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Neighborhood](\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Neighborhood-flooding-1-400x600.jpg\")