SaferPLACES Global Platform: An AI-based Digital Twin Solution for Flood Risk Intelligence in Urban Areas [Online]

Our cities are flooding with increased frequency due to more severe weather events and a growing anthropogenic pressure (i.e., soil sealing, urban expansion, man induced land-subsidence, etc.). An accurate and detailed characterization of flood hazard is a fundamental step in order to improve or optimize the resilience of cities to potential flood losses and damages. SaferPLACES platform provides a cost-effective and user-friendly cloud-based solution for flood hazard and risk management in urban areas. The flood intelligence underlying the SaferPLACES platform integrates the following main components: 1) a Digital Twin automatic generator able to exploit the available big open climate and geospatial data (Copernicus, Google Earth Engine, Amazon, Open Street Map), 2) innovative AI-based and fast DEM-based flood hazard assessment methods with Bayesian damage models, which are able to provide results in short computation times 3) the power and scalability of cloud computing. The platform addresses pluvial, fluvial, and coastal flood hazards and risks assessment in urban and peri-urban environments under current and future climate scenarios, enabling users to rapidly simulate the effect of mitigation measures (i.e., reduction of floodlosses). The SaferPLACES platform is accessible at platform.saferplaces.co and active for several fully functioning cities that showcase the platform’s ease of use and potential for planning flood-resilient cities. Also, the platform is equipped with a global wizard that guides the users through the generation of a digital twin of the urban area of interest in any part of the world, using open-access data, as well as ad-hoc data uploaded by the user. We briefly present the SaferPLACES platform and, more specifically, one of the floodhazard modelling modules featured by the platform itself.