Richard Crowder, Solution Director for Flood Products at Jacobs
Flood Platform is a game changer for all those directly and indirectly involved in flood modelling. It is the first tool truly designed to unify and streamline flood modelling processes, irrespective of the modelling application you use.
First let’s start off with what Flood Platform is not…
It’s not a replacement to your existing flood modelling applications, for example TUFLOW, Flood Modeller, HEC-RAS and SWMM. You will continue to use these applications as you do today.
It’s not something we have just developed, and hope people will use. We have been using it for over fifteen years, and it’s become embedded into our day-to-day project delivery globally. We originally developed it to overcome the challenge of managing large volumes of model data files and simulations. It has now matured into a platform that is empowering teams to optimise workflows, collaborate seamlessly, and achieve unprecedented efficiency in flood modelling.
So, what is Flood Platform and what exactly makes it stand out? In this article, I dive into some of its core features, provide real-life case studies and testimonials that highlight its impact on project delivery.
Core features of Flood Platform
Flood Platform is a cloud-based platform that runs on Microsoft Azure. It works alongside your existing modelling applications and provides six core features:
Model management
Collaboration
Simulation and analysis
Visualisation
Reporting
Security
Let's dive into each of these in more detail...
Model Management: This is where it all started. Flood Platform provides comprehensive model management capabilities, allowing users to securely maintain a detailed overview and control of all their models and associated model data. It now also simplifies the secure transfer of models from one organisation to another.
The Global Viewer and List Catalogue reduces the time spent searching for and accessing model data files. The Global Viewer allows users to quickly locate where in the world they have models. With the model transfer feature, there’s no need to rely on file-sharing sites or hard drives, eliminating the frustration of missing files. Flood Platform does all the hard work and automatically checks to make sure all the model files are there. This centralised approach enhances decision-making, ensures consistency across projects and organisations, and enables modellers and stakeholders to focus more on analysis and application.
Testimonial: "Flood Platform serves as our global hub for securely managing and accessing modelling data. As the volume of modelling data continues to grow, it has proven invaluable in swiftly locating and storing modelling data. Beyond efficiency gains, it empowers enhanced analysis and informed decision-making.”
Elise Ibendahl, Global Principal for Flood Modelling and Planning at Jacobs, USA
Collaboration: Collaboration was one of the most requested features for Flood Platform. Effective collaboration between internal teams and stakeholders should be easy and effortless, whether it’s for accessing modelling data, seeking assistance, reviewing results, or conducting quality reviews. However, achieving this has always been challenging for modellers, irrespective of the modelling application being used and the processes and procedures organisations have implemented.
Flood Platform is specifically designed to facilitate seamless communication and data exchange among team members, stakeholders, and clients. This capability not only accelerates project delivery and fosters stronger stakeholder support but also leads to happier modellers and clients. With a range of access controls and permissions, including geofencing, you can precisely manage what you share, which is particularly useful for directing collaborators’ attention to specific results and locations. The spatial and temporal comments feature allows you to pinpoint questions and feedback, while the ability to track responses enables immediate action and provides a visual audit trail.
Testimonial: "Managers can save a lot of time (and money) by picking up problems early and being able to talk to the modeller about them. It’s so powerful having access to visual results in Flood Platform, being able to play through the simulation and since we aren’t always together, being able to comment on potential problems for review.”
Blake Boulton, Director at WMS Engineering, Australia
Simulation and Analysis: Again, this is where Flood Platform all started from. It offers advanced simulation and analysis capabilities, empowering users to conduct detailed hydraulic analyses like never before.
Flood Platform supports various modelling applications, including Flood Modeller and TUFLOW, and allows you to instantly access and scale computing power to meet your project requirements. With pre-processing checks, it ensures you have all the necessary files at the outset. Once simulations are completed, it can automatically perform post-processing tasks to help you review and analyse results. We are adding further automations to assist modellers with model calibration, assessing model uncertainty, conducting probabilistic analysis, and carrying out design optimisation.
Case Study: Environment Agency’s Oxford-Cambridge Arc Flood Risk Investment Study
Challenge: The client needed to plan investment in flood management across three major river catchments to enable the construction of 1,000,000 houses and unlock over £100 billion of economic growth over the next generation. The programme needed to account for changes in risk over time and optimise investment. Over 900 models needed to be run for a range of return periods, climate futures, and scenarios, requiring 45,000 simulations.
Solution: Flood Platform was used to configure the 900 models of the study catchment and run the 45,000 simulations to test different scenarios and climate futures. Post-processing of results was automatically undertaken, enabling the rapid identification of an optimised investment plan that maximised benefits and avoided constructing flood defence assets before they were required.
Visualisation: No matter which modelling application you use, Flood Platform provides a common and unified way to view model data files and results, as well as create plots, detailed maps, and animations of flood scenarios. The powerful visualisation tools in Flood Platform help both modellers and non-modellers intuitively understand complex information and communicate model data and flood risks effectively.
With the 1D and 2D viewing capabilities, you can easily visualise, interrogate, and compare results. The inspector tool enables users to view model components, results, log files, and check layers, providing insights into data that would have previously been cumbersome or challenging, even for expert modellers. Additionally, the styling and annotation tools allow you to refine your maps, eliminating the need for separate tools to create maps for publishing.
Testimonial: "Flood Platform’s capabilities continue to expand, empowering our teams to achieve more with less effort. By streamlining routine analysis tasks, it accelerates project timelines and ensures consistency across all our deliverables. The visualisation features within Flood Platform mean our teams can complete many routine analysis tasks even quicker than before, as well as drive consistency in deliverables across our projects”.
Liam Durr, Environment Agency Mapping & Modelling Framework Manager at Jacobs, UK
Reporting: Automated report production features are new to Flood Platform. These features will eliminate manual data processing errors that often occur when using multiple tools to create reports. This will not only free up time for in-depth analysis but also bring consistency and efficiency to the production of common deliverables, including model and simulation logs.
Testimonial: "I have been using Flood Platform for the last 7 years and it’s become indispensable, enabling me to intuitively manage my model data and rapidly complete many model simulations to ensure I deliver robust analysis. The report creation tools are a new addition to Flood Platform and add to the automated model checking and quality assurance tools we have been using for many years.”
Blanca Garcia, Principal Modeller, Jacobs, UK
Security: Flood Platform is built using the latest Microsoft Azure security features, ensuring robust protection for your data. We have added an additional layer of security through two-factor authentication, enhancing the safety of user access. With strict user-based permissions, you can assign roles and access levels to users based on project and organisational requirements, ensuring that only authorised personnel can access sensitive information.
Summary
Flood Platform is more than just software; it’s a comprehensive solution that empowers teams to work smarter, not harder. By unifying flood modelling processes and fostering collaboration, Flood Platform is paving the way for a more resilient future.
To learn more about how you can leverage the power of Flood Platform, schedule a call with one of our team.
Richard Crowder
Richard is the Director for Flood Products at Jacobs. With nearly 30 years of industry experience, including over 20 years at Jacobs, he brings a wealth of knowledge to his role. Richard is a Fellow of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and CIWEM. He holds a first degree in civil and structural engineering from Bradford, UK, and a PhD in physical and computational hydraulics.