FIU's Web App Helps Residents Visualize Possible Impact Of Rising Sea Levels
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Ever wondered whether your dwelling will be affected by rising sea levels? Florida International University developed a web app to help residents visualize the possible impact of rising seas on South Florida neighborhoods.
Using elevation data from Google Elevation Service, and based on sea level rise calculations created by scientist at FIU's Geographic Information Systems Peter Harlem, the web app is an interactive sea-level rise viewer where users enter an address and see how up to a 6-foot rise in sea level may affect their neighborhood, the university said.
The goal of the web app, according to Assistant Professor of journalism at FIU and the web app project manager Susan Jacobson is to "inform residents of South Florida about the potential impact of sea level rise where they live."
The web app will also include a database of flood reports from both government and citizen sources in South Florida, according to the press release put out by FIU. Miami-Dade recently launched an open data portal that includes flood reports which is included in the flood database.
The flood report database, Jacobson noted in the release, "will help residents identify the incidence of what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calls 'nuisance flooding,' a phenomenon that is increasingly common as sea levels rise."
The web app, developed by FIU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication in conjunction with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), is free of cost. The web app officially launched on March 28.
For more information on the Sea Level Rise web app, click here.