Integration of remote and in situ data: prototype Flood Information Management System

The Flood Information Management System (FIMS) represents the confluence of several cutting edge technologies and methodologies. The FIMS website combines real-time in situ data, internationally recognized hydraulic and hydrologic models, multiresolution remotely sensed images and a customized Web interface all within one coherent and easily accessible Internet location. The FIMS prototype development focused on two river basins with active river monitoring programs, the Fraser River in British Columbia and the St. John River in New Brunswick. Near-real-time sensors in both these river basins provide FIMS with its water quantity baseline data. Web-based software engineering provides the bridge between hydraulic/hydrologic models and the graphical user interfaces used to display the near-real-time geospatial results on the Internet. Users are able to interactively visualise Ikonos, Radarsat, and Landsat image maps of their areas, visualize hydrometric station locations and actual flow data, then run models that show flood hazard, risk and extents based on current and predicted flows.