News Archive 2011
Visit to digitally monitored flood defences
18 November 2011
During the International Water Week Amsterdam UrbanFlood and Waternet organised an excursion in the Watergraafsmeer on November 1, 2011.
With an international group of about 15 persons we visited the supercomputing centre SARA
at Science Park, where Floris Sluiter introduced us to the secrets of
Cloud Computing and we could admire the enormous computer facility. Next
we walked in the beautiful autumn sun on the Science Park embankment to
look at the gate that can be used to close inflow from the
Amsterdam-Rhine canal in case of an emergency. After a quick look at the flood doors in the
railway embankment we continued to the UrbanFlood sensor location in
the north-east Watergraafsmeer dike, where Erik Peters (Alert Solutions)
demonstrated and explained the sensors and the installation process,
which lead to a very interesting discussion. Back at Waternet Liesbeth Hersbach (Waternet) gave a short recap of the overall system that protects the Watergraafsmeer polder, and showed a video of the renovation of the inflatable barrier in the Ringvaart at the ‘Omval’, a crucial part of this system.
Finally,
Jeroen Broekhuijsen (TNO, UrbanFlood) demonstrated the UrbanFlood
multi-touch table, and invited everyone to try for themselves. All too
soon the bus had to leave for the RAI again. The excursion was a
success, thanks to all involved. Download the program.
Common Information Space
29 October 2011
The Common Information Space (CIS), developed by Cyfronet AGH Dice team is a service-oriented software framework facilitating development, deployment and reliable operation of complex systems which rely on scientific computations. … more
CGW11 - the Eleventh Cracow Grid Workshop
29 October 2011
UrbanFlood project will be present at CGW11 in Krakow. Rob
Meijer (Project Coordinator UrbanFlood), will give a keynote lecture,
and 2 posters will be presenting CIS for 3 days. Follow this link for more information.
UrbanFlood at the ICFM5
14 October 2011
On
27-29 September 2011, the 5th International Conference on Flood
Management (ICFM5) was held in Tokyo, Japan with more than 450
participants gathered from 40 different nations throughout the world.
ICFM5 is the only international conference focused solely on flood
related issues, organised every 3 years. This year the theme was:
“Floods: From Risk to Opportunity”.
As
Japan and the world were shocked by the news and images of the March 11
mega-quake, tsunami and the horrible aftermath, this once in a thousand
year event clearly underscores the need for preparedness and continued
research into ways to prevent or reduce flood damage and protect life
and livelihoods. The organising committee decided to dedicate the first
day of the conference to ‘mega-flood disasters’; the mega-tsunami in
Japan and other recent hydro-meteorological catastrophes in the world.
High-level decision-makers, experts and officials, including ministers
and even the crown-prince of Japan participated to discuss flood
management issues and share lessons learned and best practices on
emergency response and recovery.
During
the second and third day a total of 180 oral presentations and 50
poster presentations were scheduled; while the presentations were short
the discussion and exchange of ideas was good and very useful. The
conference was, as always, a place to meet with many experts on flood
risk management from all around the world, and to learn about ongoing
and new developments. It was satisfying to see that, after the Japanese,
the Dutch formed the largest group, underscoring the important position
of flood management in the Netherlands.
UrbanFlood
was well-represented in this conference, with a poster presentation by
Jonathan Simm entitled “Instrumenting the performance of levees as part
of real-time flood management: an application of the EU UrbanFlood
project at Boston UK” [pdf],
and two parallel session presentations: “Smart Levees” by Bernhard
Lang, and “Flood Warning Systems: sensors and the internet” [pdf]
by Bob Pengel. All three were well received. Several other
presentations underscored the importance of using new ICT and sensor
techniques to increase flood safety. We are looking forward to hearing
even more presentations on these subjects at ICFM6, to be held in Brazil
in 2014.
Follow this link for more information on the ICFM5.
UrbanFlood at Innovatie Estafette
4 October 2011
UrbanFlood
presented at the exhibition of the Innovation Estafette in Rotterdam,
together with the IJkdijk Foundation and the STOWA. Follow this link for more information (Dutch)
STOWA at Innovatie Estafette
UrbanFlood at Innovatie Estafette
3 million grant for LiveDijk concept
4 October 2011
3 million for 'Live Dikes' in Groningen and Utrecht.
The
dike of the future is strong and smart. Netherlands is looking for
technologies that make smart dikes. As in the LiveDijk concept in which
sensors provide ‘live’ information about the strength and the condition
of the dike. During the Innovation Estafette
in the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam Minister Atsma (Ministry of
infrastructure and the environment) announced the up-scaling of the
LiveDijk concept with three million euros.
Follow this link for more information (Dutch)
Boston UK: inauguration of smart dike
22 September 2011
On
Wednesday 14 September the ‘smart dike’ that was installed in April and
May this year was officially inaugurated. In a well-attended meeting
the participants learned about the installation of the sensors
in the dike right behind the meeting room, the UrbanFlood system was
demonstrated and the Environment Agency explained the plans for the
Boston flood barrier and the rehabilitation of navigable waterways. Mr.
Steve Lumb, of the Boston Borough Council, expressed his interest in and
support for solutions that help keep the citizens of Boston safer from
flooding. The meeting was concluded with a visit to the actual site,
where the data terminals in the lock house were the only parts of the
network that was visible. The multi-touch screen was made available by
Touchez of London, and an impression of the day and a short video of the demonstration can be found at www.touchez.co.uk.
Presentations Boston UK Workshop
UrbanFlood, Robert Meijer, TNO Download Presentation
Boston Barrier Proposals Aims and Strategy, Nicolas Rowlinson, Environment Agency’s Project Manager Download Presentation
Boston Barrier Proposals Design Considerations, Charles Schelpe and Halcrow Jacobs Alliance, Environment Agency Download Presentation
Managing flood risk in Boston, Leila Farhan, Environment Agency and Steve Lumb, Boston Borough Council Download Presentation
Boston Understanding Flood Defence Performance using Monitoring Systems, Jonathan Simm, HR Wallingford. Download Presentation Part 1 + Part 2
Modelling the Consequences of Defence Breach, Julien Lhomme, HR Wallingford
Follow this link to a video 'Example life safety model' Download Presentation
Boston UK, source: B. Pengel
Meet STOWA and UrbanFlood at the Innovation Estafette (relay) 2011 (Dutch)
22 September 2011
The “Club van Maarssen” will organize the Innovatie-Estafette 2011
at Tuesday 4 October in Rotterdam. The venue is the Van Nelle
Ontwerpfabriek. During the day the private sector, research institutes
and authorities will show the latest developments in environment,
mobility, transport, spatial planning and water. STOWA is one of the
participants. Are you coming too? Click here to register (in Dutch – the event language is Dutch).
During the day you can participate in interesting workshops on the theme ‘water’. STOWA will present several innovative projects and programs.
Where are we, what do we do?
During
the Innovatie-estafette 2011 you can find STOWA in the Koffiefabriek at
the ground floor, stand number 7. In the stand we will present the
IJkdijk/LiveDijk & UrbanFlood, NEWater & De Energiefabriek,
Daklab and Deltaproof & Deltafacts. Come along, ask, listen and
participate in discussions with researchers and professionals,
trailblazers and experts.
11.30 - 12.00 uur Deltaproof & Deltafacts (Dutch)
12.00 - 13.00 uur Daklab (Dutch)
13.30 - 14.00 uur Deltaproof & Deltafacts (Dutch)
14.30 - 15.30 uur IJkdijk(Dutch) & UrbanFlood
16.00 - 17.00 uur NEWater & Energiefabriek (Dutch)
18.00 - 18.30 uur Deltaproof & Deltafacts (Dutch)
Boston UK workshop UrbanFlood
20 August 2011
We
would like to inform you about a workshop UrbanFlood organizes in
Boston, UK. It takes places at September 14th, 2011. Although UrbanFlood
cannot fund your cost of getting and staying there, it might be an idea
for you to attend it!
The
workshop is organized to "celebrate" the occasion of the instalation
and operation of a "non-continental" dike monitoring sensornetwork. It
targets at first instance an UK audience, presenting UrbanFlood,
UrbanFlood scientific results and the Boston site.
The
Wiltham River flows through the centre of the town of Boston and into
the Wash, where a dike is monitored. The tidal differences are huge
there, some 4 meters, and it massively influences the dike. The workshop
discusses amongst others these influences.
Follow this link for more information, the program and registration.
New sites monitored by UrbanFlood
8 August 2011
The new sites monitored by UrbanFlood are:
- A bridge at Almere, The Netherlands
- De Vechtdijk, The Netherlands
Follow this link to see the first GeoBeads data Boston UK
The sites already monitored by UrbanFlood are:
- Eemshaven, The Netherlands
- Boston United Kingdom
- Stammerdijk Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Vechtdijk Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Dike next to Zeelandbrug, The Netherlands
- Brisbane, Queensland, Australia