Rich Internet Application for Crisis Management Support – Case Study on Floods in Olomouc City

Abstract

Olomouc city, located in the east part of Czech Republic, is historically affected by floods from Morava River. This paper describes designing of web application for crisis management support. Especially it is focused on the support of inhabitants’ evacuation from flooded objects and areas. The application deals with Rich Internet Application concept and Service-oriented architecture. It has been developed by Apache Flex technology. It allows implementation of number modern features and tools into the fully web application. Only web browser is needed for running; no installation process is required. Application itself does not contain any data because of following Service-oriented architecture. All spatial layers are connected as a web mapping services according to their character: Representational State Transfer, Web Map Service or Web Feature Service. This approach ensures that data are updated constantly. The main purpose of the application is visualization of flood areas of Morava River in Olomouc city. It contains two kinds of data. Real data was captured during floods in 1997 and 2006. On the other hand, data of statistical prediction flow for hundred-year (Q100), twenty-year (Q20) and five-year (Q5) flood periods. The flooded buildings and streets are displayed as affected depending on selected layer. Both spatial and tabular tools are enabled for selected features. User can display flooded cadastral area, streets and address points with a number of inhabitants, buildings and many other characteristics useful for evacuation process. This application has been developed in cooperation with the Department of Protection of Olomouc Municipality that provided the data for the application.