Flood Model Assessment and Hurricane Inundation Map Display

AppGeo’s ongoing work with the City of Gloucester, Massachusetts highlights our ability to pull together important flood-related data and display it in a user-friendly manner for the general public and city officials to consume.

Project Dates: 2012 – ongoing

Project Description and Outcome: AppGeo has been working with the City of Gloucester to support all aspects of GIS and geospatial IT since 2002.  Gloucester is a coastal community with a populated downtown that has some very low-lying areas directly on the water.  The City of Gloucester can be greatly impacted by hurricanes or other flooding events. AppGeo began working with Gloucester on various projects related to flood model data, inundation data, and watershed delineation in 2012.  In particular, AppGeo collaborated with the City of Gloucester on the following projects:

  • Displaying various flood-related layers and hurricane inundation details on MapGeo.  AppGeo worked with city officials to determine which flood and hurricane layers were most important to display on the city map.  AppGeo then pulled these layers from different sources and made them available on the city’s unified mapping platform (MapGeo). These layers provide key information about potential flooding and inundation to city officials and the general public.
  • Flood Model Assessment / Updates.  AppGeo worked with the city to assess the FEMA flood inundation models to make any needed adjustments and improvements.
  • Watershed Delineation.  AppGeo used detailed Lidar and DEM data to develop citywide watershed data.
  • Evacuation / Hurricane Inundation Assessment and Development of Evacuation Routes. AppGeo performed an assessment of inundation modeling to determine which areas of the city would be isolated during a flood event. This information was used to develop evacuation routes and create a prioritized evacuation plan.

AppGeo’s Performance: In addition to the flood-related work described above, AppGeo also provides many other forms of spatial IT and GIS support to the city that meet the city’s need for current data, custom tools and applications, and for project management and quality control on the work of other suppliers of GIS data. Among the tasks completed between 2002 and today are:

  • Updated orthogonal Imagery and conducted LiDAR survey of the city.
  • Deployed MapGeo for Gloucester a web mapping to provide GIS data and geospatial tools to the public and city staff via secure web access.
  • Detailed mapping performance of tributary watersheds associated with each of the city’s drinking water reservoirs.
  • Assisted with as-needed mapping projects (watershed mapping, hurricane inundation and evacuation routes, E911 road centerlines, utility network mapping, etc).
  • Provided assistance to the Department of Public Works, Community Development, Planning, Police, Fire, Conservation Commission, Harbormaster, Assessors, and IT/IS departments, as needed.
  • Updated and maintain critical GIS layers such as addresses, tax (Assessors) maps and Sewer, Water and Stormwater GIS networks.
  • Developed automated abutters list tool for various permitting requirements as required by State law and city ordinance.
  • Developed Electronic Filing Cabinet (EFC) to organize and allow for quick search and retrieval of maps, plans, sketches, photographs, and other principally infrastructure related documents.
  • Developed tools to make utility infrastructure data available in the field to DPW crews and others on lap-tops and tablets.
  • Assisted city staff in vetting potential vendors and applications for Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) for city infrastructure.