of the risk e.g. flooding gets more and more important.
Whereas in the past the ratings have been calculated
very unprecisely the exact location of the object insured
and the location of the risk is very important. EO data
may contribute for a better risk management and a
better portfolio management in case of a flood
The requirements of this user group (commercial user)
concerning information content and the data quality are:
m accurate, fast flood damage assessment for a quick
appraisal of losses (the knowledge of the cost of an
catastrophic events in different loss scenarios with
respect to their portfolio),
= historical inundation maps
= most accurate DGMs in order to calculate the
premiums, and to calculate the loss potential for the
future - a special service for the insurers from the
reinsurers (the simulation of an flood event and
evaluation of economic losses).
s information should be in digital format for direct input
into their already existing GIS.
Next to airborne data, spaceborne ERS-SAR radar data proved
to be a potential help for flood mapping tasks (if the problem of
time resolution can be overcome). Considering the requirements
of the user under catastrophic conditions a fast processing chain
has to be applied. To assure the timeliness for acquisition and
processing in this study the MMS Raids System, which can
provide ERS-SAR quarter scenes within 12 hours after
acquisition, was employed. It can be stated that EO data
provision services like RAIDS are the right step towards an
operational, near real time flood monitoring system.
For EOFIND the following work has been carried out: Two
ERS-SAR scenes of the Nijmegen area were acquired via the
RAIDS system using the INTERNET. The area covers the
rivers Meuse, Lower Rhine and Waal. The interpretation was
done on basis of the combination of multitemporal scenes
(30.01.95/24.12.94) and the ratio of the two dates. Inundated
areas were delineated and two products have been generated:
one - emphazing the inundated areas - and the other
superimposing the flooded areas on a topographic map.
Several potential customers contacted during EOFIND showed
big interest in these EO derived products and stated that EO
based flood maps would allow a faster comprehension of the
flood disaster situation. However, for both user groups there
exist significant barriers which still hamper the use of EO data:
m the end user and the higher administrative level is not yet
aware of the benefits of EO data and products due to missing
"real life" application examples
m data availability is not timely enough due to slow interaction
time between data provider and value adding agency (the fire
brigades do need information immediately following the
occurrence of a flood event)
m data collection is not timely (the fire brigades do need this
information when there is a flood and not every 35 days)
m at this stage the costs to acquire EO data products are to high
for relief organizations as well as for insurance industry
despite their strong financial background.
Benefits of CEO to overcame these deficiencies:
210
m establish a service that provides and distributes information
and products to the different users (fire brigades, insurances).
m get in contact with potential end users by organizing
workshops at the user sites in order to overcome the financial
restrictions e.g. no travel budgets available; organizing
workshops is mandatory because the communication via
INTERNET is currently not the appropriate way to contact
this user group
m demonstrate in a real environment applications of EO data for
flood mapping in pilot projects financed by CEO in closer
cooperation with the user to increase the acceptance of the
results of EO data which is not only depended on the
availability and accuracy of the final thematic maps but on
the possibilities to integrate such information in the daily
work. That means that if a potential user finally accepts this
data as a new source of information it may lead to a complete
change of the current internal work flow. Thus ergonomic
aspects must be considered in order to overcome the
obstacles belonging to human or governmental ,traditions'*
m initiate European product harmonization essential in border
and organization crossing relief operations
4 CONCLUSIONS
EOFIND is, for the time being, the only European initiative on
Earth observation for disaster management which directly
involves users and works on concrete applications. The
following conclusions were derived on one hand directly from
the study and on the other hand from the long term experience
of the study team concerning EO data analysis, value adding
and data management.
1. Satellite EO products can be a useful tool to support
different types of users in different types and phases of
disasters.
2. The market for satellite EO products has a potential to grow
rapidly in the next years, when the users are better trained
and the prizes for the products are reduced.
3. CEO should offer international fora (on INTERNET and
within meetings and workshops) to discuss and co-ordinate
the European role for dedicated missions for disaster
mitigation and relief support from a user-driven point of
view.
4. The current lack of E-mail connections by most
inexperienced users leads to the need of communication and
public relation activities outside the INTERNET. Here,
several possibilities can be discussed:
» Announcement and presentation of CEO and EO
examples in specific international journals as well as in
more popular newspapers and journals
=» Organisation of workshops for specific user groups (e.g.
from forestry, landuse management, insurance
companies, fire brigades)
« Creation of a multimedia show (e:g. in a bus) which
travels directly to potential customers showing them,
for example, image processing means, INTERNET,
satellite communication etc..
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B2. Vienna 1996
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