Flood Risk Assessment using Grass GIS

Introduction

With the prevalence of climate change in society today many individuals are discovering the advantageous functionality of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for modelling and predicting the ramifications of climate change to their localities. The climate crisis brings about many pressing issues to the world, but this tutorial will prioritize emulating rising water levels to demonstrate a very basic flood risk assessment using open source software and data. This tutorial will make use of GRASS GIS to demonstrate the recently updated user-friendly Graphical User Interface and will focus on conducting a basic flood risk analysis on one of Canada's most populated coastal cities, Vancouver BC. This tutorial uses open source data from USGS's Earth Explorer and the City of Vancouver's Open Data website.

Vancouver is one of Canada's largest coastal cities and experiences the ramifications of climate change much more severely than us at Carleton University in Ottawa. An article by CBC ([1]) provides some context to the tutorial with recent (as of 2022) flooding in the city to emphasize the importance as well as the potential that GIS holds in aiding communities at a national scale.

Software and Data

This tutorial uses the latest version of Grass GIS 8.3.0, which can be downloaded for Windows, MacOSX, and Linux from their website ([2]). After downloading, run the installer and install GRASS onto your computer. Ensure to download it to a secure directory with a known location so you can easily keep track of things. The installer will most likely prompt you to install the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable; allow this install as it is integral for the GRASS GIS runtime. This tutorial aims to focus on using the updated GUI but will brush on the command console and its ease of use in GRASS.

The data used for this lesson are derived from two main sources, the US Geological Survey Earth Explorer tool ([3]) and the City of Vancouver Open Data website ([4]); both are open data sources, although the USGS requires you to create an account to access their data.

First, let's begin by collecting the data needed from the City of Vancouver Open Data Website:

1. Open the link provided above

2. Select the Catalogue tab in the left of the home page

3. A catalogue browser will open, in the search bar enter "Local Area Boundary"

4. Select the file containing the cities 22 planning areas (this will serve as our city boundary)

5. Inspect the integrity of the data by reviewing the metadata, paying specific attention to the Data Accuracy, Last Processed Date and the Data Owner

6: Select the "Export" tab and select the hyperlink for the Shapefile download

7: Repeat this process for another Shapefile called "Public Streets"

8. Store the data in a folder you'll keep tabs on (we will export it to the GRASS database later)

Next, we will collect the data from the Earth Explorer website:

1. Open the link provided from above

2. Select the Data Sets tab at the top of the window

3. Expand the Digital Elevation menu, expand the SRTM submenu, select SRTM 1 Arc-Second Global

4. Return to the Search Criteria tab

5. Under the "Select a Geocoding Method" drop down tab select Address/Place and enter Vancouver

6. Select the coordinates for Vancouver BC and click the "Results" tab

7. Under results a DEM should appear, start by inspecting the metadata

8. First click "Show Footprint" to ensure the image covers the study area

9. Next click "Show metadata" and browse, paying close attention to acquisition date and Resolution

10. Finally click "Download Options" and select "TIFF" format; store the resulting TIFF file somewhere safe for now

Exploring GRASS

Starting a GRASS session

Now that GRASS is properly installed, and our data has been collected and inspected, we can continue with starting a GRASS session. A reminder that the software for this tutorial is 8.3.0; a benefit to open source software, like GRASS, isthat previous software releases are still available for public use if you find need for following an older tutorial.

Let us being by creating a GRASS session:

First, open Grass GIS by clicking on the desktop icon; if your installer did not create a desktop shortcut manually search for the GRASS GIS app in your operating system's search bar

Next, you will see (any returning users will be shocked) that the GRASS GUI loads an automatic "demolocation"

Notice:

On the left hand side, under the pane titled "Data", GRASS GIS has loaded a "demolocation" as well as a "PERMANENT" mapset

This is a new feature of GRASS GIS and provides a much more user friendly experience for learning the storage method used by GRASS

This tutorial will briefly outline the basics behind the GRASS storage system while walking you through the simple GUI

The Data Panel

GRASS GIS data panel

On the left hand side of the GUI there is a data panel as mentioned above

This panel allows the user to control a few factors:

1. The GRASS Database: This allows the user to add new/existing databases and remove them as well

2. The project's location: This feature allows the user to specify a location which is essentially a sub-directory in the database

3. Creating a Mapset: This allows the user to create a new map workspace much like the already created "PERMANENT" mapset

The other two icons in the data panel will be made of later when importing our data.

The Layers Panel

Results

By toggling between the original SRTM DEM, 2m Flooding, and 5m Flooding layers, we can ascertain the levels of flooding we could see in areas in and around Daytona Beach.