3D Flood
Modeling
with LIDAR

3D Flood Modeling with LIDAR

This is a summary detailing the methodologies and issues involved during an extensive technical graduate project that I completed as part of the Applied Geomatics Research program with the Center of Geographic Sciences (COGS) and the Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG).

The main goal of the project was to generate flood maps and DEMs with better than 30 cm vertical accuracy for the coastal area of southeastern New Brunswick in support of CCAF Project A591. The CCAF project was a venture partnered with Environment Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, New Brunswick Resources and Energy, Parks Canada, Universite de Moncton, Nova Scotia Community College (AGRG & COGS) and the University of New Brunswick. The aim of the CCAF project team was to collaborate together and generate accurate maps and information that would quantify the impacts of climate change, sea-level rise, storm surge events and coastal erosion in support of sustainable management and the development of adaptation strategies.

The project involved mapping areas at risk to coastal flooding from storm surge events. High resolution elevation data acquired from an airborne LIDAR sensor was used to interpolate three dimensional digital elevation models of the coastal topography and to accurately model flooding for the selected case study areas in southeast New Brunswick. Based upon the LIDAR DEM and the provided predicted sea-level rise information from storm surge and climate change models, several flood risk maps of the coastal zone of New Brunswick were produced.Further analysis of the spatial relationships between existing structures and land cover types and predicted flood risk maps will be done in collaboration with other sub-projects of the CCAF project committee.

The project was the major portion of the advanced diploma in Applied Geomatics Research that I obtained from the Center of Geographic Sciences (COGS). This web page is intended as a summary portfolio of the project, with links to the related components such as papers, presentations, posters, scripts, images etc.

STUDY AREA

The study area for the project consisted of the coastal Gulf Shore region of southeastern New Brunswick from Kouchibouguac National Park south to Jourimain Island. The area was split into ten smaller polygons, based on sub-project requirements of the CCAF team and comprised the areas of highest scientific interest and significant priority for governments and coastal stake holders.The polygons were given the following names: Kouchibouguac National Park,Cap Lumiere, La Dune, Bouctouche, Cormierville, Ile Cocagne, Cap Pele, Shemogue Harbour, Little Shemogue, and Cape Jourimain.

3D Flood Modeling with LIDAR

Literature Review

The literature review consisted of a paper and a presentation that took place during September and October of 2003 at the Applied Geomatics Research Group facility in Middleton, Nova Scotia.

• MacKinnon E (2003) AGRG Literature Review Middleton, NS: Applied Geomatics Research Group, Centre of Geographic Sciences, 11 pages
• MacKinnon E (2003) Coastal Geomorphological 3D Modeling with LIDAR presented at the Applied Geomatics Research Group, Centre of Geographic Sciences; Middleton, Nova Scotia

Project Proposal

All students were required to construct a proposal for their respective projects even though we were basically all ready committed to complete the project and funding had already been secured prior to our presence. Also in my case, I was already 6 months into the project when I was writing the proposal. The project proposal consisted of a paper and a presentation that took place during September and October of 2003 at the Applied Geomatics Research Group facility in Middleton, Nova Scotia.

• MacKinnon E (2003) Sea-Level Rise and Climate Change on the Coastal Zone of southeastern New BrunswickMiddleton, NS: Applied Geomatics Research
  Group, Centre of Geographic Sciences, 20 pages
• MacKinnon E (2003) Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on the Coastal Zone of southeastern New Brunswick presented at the Applied Geomatics Research Group, Centre of Geographic Sciences; Middleton, Nova Scotia

Final Paper and Presentation

The final paper was prepared to summarize the entire project, the report was rather lengthy with over 200 pages of content, the PDF version had to have all image resolutions degraded to allow it to be posted to the site and note that it is still relatively a large file (over 20 mb).

Final presentations were given at the CCAF annual general meeting at the University of Moncton in New Brunswick and the 2004 Geomatics Atlantic Conference at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick

• MacKinnon E (2004) Three Dimensional Flood Modeling with High Resolution LIDAR Middleton, NS: Applied Geomatics Research Group, Centre of Geographic
  Sciences, 200 pages MacKinnon E (2004) Three Dimensional Flood Modeling with High Resolution LIDAR presented at the University of Moncton, New Brunswick and also presented at the Centre of Geographic Sciences in Lawrencetown , Nova Scotia

Other Related Papers and Presentations

I have presented this project at the 2004 GeoTec Conference in Toronto, Ontario, the 2004 Geomatics Atlantic Conference and at the 98th Canadian Institute of Geomatics Conference in Ottawa, Ontario.

• MacKinnon E (2005) Three Dimensional Flood Modeling with High Resolution LIDAR Ottawa, Ont: Canadian Institute of Geomatics, 8 pages
• MacKinnon E (2005) Three Dimensional Flood Modeling with High Resolution LIDAR presented at the Canadian Institute of Geomatics 2005 Conference held in Ottawa, Ontario
• Webster T & MacKinnon E (2004) Flood Risk Mapping using LIDAR, SE NB Climate Change Action Fund presented at Geomatics Atlantic 2004 Conference held at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick

Scripts

Several scripts were written for this project to aid with the automation of repeat data processing. EASI scripts were written and used with PCI and AML scripts were written and used with ESRI ArcINFO 9x workstation.

• Bonnycastle A & MacKinnon E (2003) TERRA_IMPORT.aml based on previous AGRG AML script written by Christian M,Dickie S, & MacKinnon F
• Bonnycastle A, MacKinnon E & Miline T (2003) TILE_GRID.aml
• Bonnycastle A, MacKinnon E & Miline T (2003) TILE_GRID.aml – this version was designed to create the Allhits surface grids
• MacKinnon E (2004) Flood_BT.mod – EASI script that was designed to create flood images of the LIDAR DEM (a different version was created for each study area)
• MacKinnon E (2004) Flood_CP_anim.mod – EASI script that was designed to create flood images to incorporate into the flood animations (a different version was created for each study area)

Images

Images submitted to posted on the Environment Canada web site:

• MacKinnon E (2003)Study area map with a LandSat background posted on the Environment Canada web site
• MacKinnon E (2004)Study area map with a LandSat background – Updated 2004 version
• MacKinnon E (2004) CapPele flood extent layer integrated with a color shaded relief (CSR) of the Point du Chene, New Brunswick area – posted on the Environment Canada web site
• MacKinnon E (2004) Ground only color shaded relief (CSR) of the Point du Chene, and Shediac, New Brunswick areas – posted on the Environment Canada web site
• MacKinnon E (2004) 3D color shaded relief (CSR) of Bouctouche, New Brunswick area with a church and several buildings easily visible (note: there is an exaggeration of 8 times orthometric height) – posted on the Environment Canada web site
• MacKinnon E (2004) Allhits color shaded relief (CSR) of the Shediac, New Brunswick area – posted on the Environment Canada web site

Animations

• MacKinnon E (2004) Three dimensional flood simulation – This is a simulated flood from sea level to 5m integrated with a color shaded relief DSM
• MacKinnon E (2004) Three dimensional fly over simulation – LIDAR All hits surface with a color orthophoto mosaic draped on top

Posters

Several posters were created for this project with some of them being presented at major
conferences. All posters were relatively large and hard to represent on a web site, so most cases these are low resolution graphic representations, and not meant to be the actual posters.

• MacKinnon E (2003) New Brunswick High Precision Network and AGRG
  2003/2004 LIDAR Zones presented at Geomatics Atlantic Conference 2003
  (Wolfville, Nova Scotia) and posted at the AGRG (Middleton, Nova Scotia)
• MacKinnon E (2003) AGRG LIDAR Ground Validation Campaign 2003 presented at Geomatics Atlantic Conference 2003 (Wolfville, Nova Scotia)
• MacKinnon E (2004) 3D Modeling with High Resolution LIDARpresented at the GeoTec Conference (Toronto, Ontario) and posted at the AGRG (Middleton, Nova Scotia)
• MacKinnon E (2004) FLood Simulation Modeling with High Resolution Modelingposted at the AGRG (Middleton, Nova Scotia) MacKinnon E (2004) Bouctouche, New Brunswick – Color Shaded Relief presented at CCAF annual general meeting held
  at the University of Moncton (Moncton, New Brunswick), and posted at the AGRG (Middleton, Nova Scotia)

COGS Applied Geomatics Research Course Descriptions

5033 Research Methods

The primary objective of this course is to prepare the student to undertake his/her individual research in the second semester. The standard components in a research project are: literature review, methodology, proposal writing, and proposal presentation.

5035 Advanced Data Processing

The main data sets involved in this course will consist of information collected under the CFI funding. The data sets include: LIDAR, CASI, Ikonos and digital aerial photography. Other field data sets will be used and integrated with the analysis. Along with technical papers associated with the assignment data processing, each student will select a specific application of the data and make a presentation at the end of the term as well as write a technical report on his/her activity

5041 Directed Research Applications

This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to engage in selected research applications. There will be requirements to conduct literature reviews, investigate specific software tools and techniques, and develop various graphical user interfaces and analytical tools.

6040 Research Project

The research project is a major component of the AGR program. It fully occupies the second and third semesters. During the first semester, as part of the normal course load, each student completes a research proposal. The proposal describes the research
problem, literature review, methodology, time lines and deliverables. Project management in the second semester includes weekly meetings with his/her supervisor and monthly presentations to the program research committee (all faculty). Many of the research projects involve collaboration with external clients. In which case, copies of
the proposal, deliverables and final report are given to the external client as well as maintained by AGRG. The research project meets the Work Experience requirements for the Applied Geomatics Research Program.