Matthew Harrison

Integrated Coastal Zone — Data Research Project (ICZMap®)

The coastal zone has, through its social, economic and environmental significance, become a focus of growing attention in the UK. It is a dynamic environment under constant pressure from human and economic activity as well as physical and environmental forces, some of which are associated with climate change and rising sea levels. Currently, the UK coastline has formed the boundary of both Ordnance Survey & Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland (OSNI) terrestrial mapping down to mean low water (mean low water springs in Scotland) and United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) chart data (up to mean high water). Coastal zone geographic data in the UK is only available in diverse terrestrial, geological and marine geographic datasets and this is a major problem for policy makers. Until now, it has been the remit of the user to resolve any integration issues resulting from differing projections, datum, scale of capture and other specification issues. This is a time consuming and laborious process and may produce inconsistent data, which are difficult to maintain and hence a major barrier to the management of a particularly sensitive environmental zone.

Regional modelling of geohazard change

Abstract Society faces a future of unprecedented, extensive and rapid environmental change. The impacts of climate change and greater societal vulnerability will require far-reaching adaptations of behaviour and activity. To plan these, decision-makers require tools that will help them understand the extent and impact of natural hazards. These should take into account deterministic and probabilistic analyses of occurrence, impact, spatial distribution, background conditions and triggers that affect different hazards. Geographic information system (GIS)-based, 2D, models are easily understood by different users and are well suited to situations where data is plentiful, the historical record is relatively complete or where problems are simple. However, they have limitations. Advances in computer processing capacity have brought marked changes in how data can be manipulated and presented; this has allowed and driven an increasing desire to provide more detailed information about the spatial extent, temporal occurrence, triggers and impacts of geohazards. Future geohazard models based on 3D distributions of causative factors, including primary (e.g. precipitation) and secondary (e.g. groundwater) 4D processes, that determine the timing, scale and geographical distribution of events will rapidly evolve. They will increasingly integrate data from other disciplines, such as societal vulnerability, to develop risk models. Currently, geohazard models are constrained by inadequate data, a poor understanding of the interaction of processes, and cultural barriers such as inertia or intellectual property rights. The development of improved models, whether for planning purposes or management of crises, provides challenges, both in system development and in the communication of complexity and uncertainty with decision-makers.

Towards a cross-domain interoperable framework for natural hazards and disaster risk reduction information

According to the United Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, “natural hazards are processes or phenomena that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage”. They are at the interface between human and natural systems. From this perspective, natural hazards are a multidimensional domain including environmental issues, the private and public sector and citizens and governance ranging from local to supranational. The vast amount of information and data necessary for comprehensive hazard and risk assessment present many challenges regarding the lack of accessibility, comparability, quality, organisation and dissemination of natural hazards spatial data. In order to mitigate these limitations, an interoperability framework has been developed and published in the INSPIRE Data Specification on Natural Risk Zones—technical guidelines (DS) document. This framework provides means for facilitating access, integration, harmonisation and dissemination of natural hazard data from different domains and sources. The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, the paper highlights the key aspects of the interoperability to the various natural hazard communities and illustrates the applicability of the interoperability framework developed in the DS. And secondly, the paper “translates” into common language the main features and potentiality of the interoperability framework of the DS for a wider audience of scientists and practitioners in the natural hazard domain. In this paper, the four pillars of the interoperability framework will be presented. First, the adoption of a common terminology for the natural hazard domain will be addressed. A common data model to facilitate cross-domain data integration will then follow. Thirdly, the common methodology developed to express qualitative or quantitative assessments of natural hazards is presented. Fourthly, the extensible classification schema for natural hazards developed from a literature review and key reference documents from the contributing community of practice is discussed. Furthermore, the applicability of the interoperability framework for the various stakeholder groups is illustrated. This paper closes discussing main advantages, limitations and next steps regarding the sustainability and evolution of the interoperability framework.