Evaluation of web maps for the communication of flood risks to the public in Europe

ABSTRACT

Floods are one of the most significant hazards in Europe. This paper describes an iterative approach consisting of designing and evaluating static flood risk maps. In the first step, the use of different colour schemes and background types (e.g. topographic map, street map, and satellite images) is evaluated in an online survey. Next the design is optimized based on the outcomes of dedicated focus groups. The usability tests include the users’ preference, also considering their characteristics (age, gender, and expertise). The obtained results of each step are integrated to optimize the design of evacuation route maps and flood depth maps.

RÉSUMÉ

Les inondations sont l’un des risques les plus importants en Europe. Ce papier décrit une approche itérative consistant à concevoir puis évaluer des cartes statiques de risque d’inondation. La première étape consiste à évaluer l’utilisation de familles de couleur et de type de données support utilisées (par exemple des cartes topographiques, des cartes des rues ou des images satellites) grâce à un questionnaire en ligne. Ensuite la conception est optimisée à partir des retours de groupes spécifiques. Les tests d’utilisabilité intègrent les préférences des utilisateurs en tenant compte de leurs caractéristiques (âge, genre, expertise). Les résultats obtenus à chaque étape sont intégrés pour optimiser la conception de cartes d’évacuation et de cartes décrivant la profondeur d’inondation.

KEYWORDS:

• Flood risk maps
• user evaluation
• map design

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Flanders Hydraulics Research for the flood risk and flood depth data and the AGIV for supplying an orthophoto, topographic map, street map, and hydrological atlas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Maaike Van Kerkvoorde graduated at Ghent University in 2012, where she studied Geomatics and Surveying. This paper is written in the context of her master thesis. Today she works as a mapping operator with Fluxys, where she maintains the database with spatial data of gas pipes.

Wim Kellens holds a PhD in Geography, in which he examined objective and subjective aspects of flood risk at the Belgian coast. By use of extensive survey research, he analysed flood risk awareness and communication. Wim is currently employed as a geographic information system (GIS) consultant in diverse sectors (soil research, utility, etc.).

Els Verfaillie is currently the GIS coordinator in the Port of Ghent. She is responsible for GIGHa (GIS of the Ghent Harbour) as a part of a large IT-infrastructure. Communication of technical information towards users is an important aspect of the job.

Kristien Ooms is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Geography, Ghent University. In her research, Kristien focuses on map users and more specifically how (well) they can read and interpret the visual information on (static and interactive) maps. Her work has been published in several leading international ISI-rated journals and she is a Vice-Chair of the Commission on Use and User Issues of the International Cartographic Association.

ORCID

Els Verfaillie http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4434-2163

Kristien Ooms http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4921-7553

Notes

1 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/flood_risk/flood_atlas/.

2 http://www.geopunt.be/catalogus/datasetfolder/d334c57e-b6b6-4578-93b1-07a4d667172c.