UrbanFlood
Newsletter December 2012 UrbanFlood is a project under the European Union 7th
framework Programme* that developed and tested an internet based early
warning system (EWS) for dike breaches. The project started in December 2009
and has been completed on November 30th 2012. The project was
carried out by a consortium of Cyfronet
(Poland), HR Wallingford (United Kingdom), OOO Siemens (Russia), STOWA, TNO
and University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). This newsletter informs about the results and impact of the
UrbanFlood project. Project coordinator Robert Meijer: “The European Commission
wants to spread technologies that help citizens in urban areas to deal with
the effects of climate change. The commission, professionals and citizens can
now see the result of our project in The Crystal in London. Just Google for The Crystal
sustainability centre to be informed on this very exciting place. In the Crystal you will see
that UrbanFlood has created a very powerful EWS technology; that its
artificial intelligence automatically learns the strength of 10000 km’s of
dikes based on sensor measurements and warns if the conditions are such that
a breach is indicated. This large scale application of artificial
intelligence is a major achievement. And we know how this intelligence can be
the heart of the monitoring of buildings, bridges and off-shore installations
during earthquakes and storms. There are so many applications. I am sure
everyone in the Crystal agrees the UrbanFlood
system is a real ‘Smart
City’ technology.” “UrbanFlood
expensive and complicated? On the contrary. The EWS is designed to minimize
the burden for organisations to use the technology. The responsible
organisations only have to put sensors in dikes and connect them to the
internet. UrbanFlood will then generate a dedicated EWS for these dikes in
the “Cloud”. Organisations only have to use the web or the UrbanFlood Windows
7/8 multi touch decision support application that they can download. And if
you need advice from dike experts when there is an emergency: the experts of
HR Wallingford can be switched online and give their advice. While the system
is designed as a flood early warning tool it can also be used as a flood defence
asset management tool. The bottom line is that you don’t get it better and
cheaper. Ever.” |
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3rd and
final UrbanFlood Workshop Thursday 22
November 2012 – Rotterdam, the Netherlands The final UrbanFlood workshop was held as a part of the FLOODrisk2012
Conference. The session started early on a rainy Thursday morning in Rotterdam; nevertheless
we welcomed 48 participants of 13 different
nationalities. On the UrbanFlood website you will find
the presented papers and video presentation of this very interesting and lively session, including the UrbanFlood
video and the discussion at the end of the workshop. … more | 
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UrbanFlood exhibition and
demonstration at FLOODrisk2012 20 – 22 November
2012 The exhibition of the UrbanFlood demonstration at
the FLOODrisk2012 Conference in Rotterdam
was a success, the multi-touch table was a big hit. Some quotes from the
questionnaires collected at this exhibition. | 
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UrbanFlood ‘The Story’ 28 November 2012 ‘The Story’ (deliverable D7.9) is a brochure which will quickly give
you an idea of the UrbanFlood Early Warning System, and some background on
the project itself. … more |  | |
Water
Innovation Award 2012 28 November 2012 On Wednesday 28
November the Water Innovation Award 2012 is awarded in four categories in ‘De
Rode Hoed’ Amsterdam.
In the category Companies wins DMC System from Friesland, an advanced sensor
technology for dike monitoring. … more (Dutch). | |
The Soft Dike
Software - Using
Sensors and Software Against the Flood
14 November 2012 Climate change is
here. The poles are melting. Sea levels are rising. Storms of the century
like "Katrina" or "Sandy" come every few years. They
mostly threaten coastal cities - and New York was the
latest. Together with UrbanFlood partners, Siemens Corporate Technology
developed an early warning system for dike breaches and flooding. The idea:
insert sensors into the dike which measure water pressure, temperature, and
shifting. The measured data flows into a software in order to realize the
danger of dike breaches at a very early stage… more (video) | | |
Final IJkdijk experiment and a new
LiveDijk-project 3 October 2012 This
autumn UrbanFlood participated in the final IJkdijk experiment at
Bellingwolde, Groningen,
in the Netherlands.
It was a so-called "All-In-One Sensor Validation Test'. Before the
experiment no one knew the failure mechanism by which the two test dikes,
both filled with sensors, would collapse. The results showed that both the
UrbanFlood Artificial Intelligence module as well as its Virtual Dike finite
element model indicated the two dike breaches well in advance. And: A new
LiveDijk project just started in the Province of Utrecht,
the Netherlands.
Two dikes are now monitored in real-time using sensors inside these dikes:
the ‘Grechtdijk’ in Woerden and the ‘Voorhavendijk’ at the ‘Beatrix Locks’ in
Nieuwegein. UrbanFlood partners STOWA and TNO are involved in this LiveDijk
project as a member of the IJkdijk Foundation. ... more(Dutch) |  | |
Life after UrbanFlood 30 November 2012 On 30 November UrbanFlood ended its project
activities. The consortium is proud of its achievements and the consortium
members look back on a period of hard and extremely innovative work in a
pleasant atmosphere. The concrete commercial leads in Europe and Asia
will lead to a formal agreement on further collaboration in February 2013 and
the continuation of the technical EWS services in 2013 and beyond. In February 2013 Euronews will film the
achievements of the UrbanFlood project. We will also have a demonstration
video of the UrbanFlood EWS ready by then, so check the website. In April 2013 the consortium will forward another proposal to the EU,
on a related topic where the UrbanFlood technology provides a head start. On
behalf of the entire UrbanFlood team we wish you a happy Christmas and a good
and innovative 2013! |  | |
Events UrbanFlood European Commission Review 25 January, 2012Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands … more events | | |
UrbanFlood Newsletter As the project was
completed a few day ago this is the last UrbanFlood Newsletter. You can find
all UrbanFlood Newsletters on the website. For
inquiries regarding this newsletter you can contact the UrbanFlood webmaster,
Jacqueline Bredius at newsletter@urbanflood.eu. | | |
UrbanFlood is a European project under the EU 7th
framework Programme*. For more details please visit the UrbanFlood website www.urbanflood.euor contact the project coordinator: robert.meijer@tno.nl
(+31(0)88 86 65753). | | |
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* UrbanFlood, a project funded under the EU
Seventh Framework Programme, Theme ICT-2009.6.4a. ICT for Environmental
Services and Climate Change Adaption. Grant agreement no. 248767. Project
from December 1, 2009 until November 30, 2012 All rights reserved ©
URBANFLOOD CONSORTIUM | Eemsgolaan 3 PO Box 1416 9701 BK Groningen The Netherlands www.urbanflood.eu info@urbanflood.eu | |