More New Orleans Flood Maps

More flood maps of New Orleans (see this morning’s entry). Kathryn Cramer, whose blog has turned into an immense resource for Hurricane Katrina information, links to a Google Maps hack that shows the approximate water depth in flooded areas; because of the limitations of Google Maps, it’s a bit of a kludge, in that you click on a point and get a textual response rather than something more, well, cartographic, but it’s useful nonetheless. She also points to Flood Level Maps, which models which areas are flooded and which aren’t — it doesn’t indicate depth, but it’s somewhat easier to parse than satellite and aerial imagery that can be ambiguous in many instances.

Posted on Tuesday, September 6, 2005 at 9:23 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Hurricanes 2005, New Orleans, Weather & Climate

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Comments

The correct address for the map is http://mapper.cctechnol.com

I was beta testing on my server at home (http://www.cybergod.net/gmap). You say, “…it’s a bit of a kludge…”. How would you like the data represented? I’d love to improve it.

The database has been extended to include the lower 9th ward, the west bank, and kenner/metarie. This brings the database up to 26,073,063 datapoints for the LIDAR terrain map.

We are utilizing MySQL Spatial to store all of the data. And, as reports are sent in from the city, we will attempt to keep the data up-to date. However, we expect that the model may show some problems as the water recedes.

-cjames

Teh Treag | 09/06/2005 at 10:05 PM | #

I’ll correct the link.

The “kludge” is intrinsic to using the Google Maps API; you’re not going to be able to show a range of depths at a glance, as with a topo map or nautical chart. I’m not blaming you, in other words.

Jonathan Crowe | 09/06/2005 at 10:12 PM | #

Klugy or not, cjames is my hero. This is so badly needed I can’t even talk about it. People are desperate for this information.

Kathryn Cramer | 09/06/2005 at 10:25 PM | #

I’ve been saying the low areas of New Orleans are 3-6 feet below sea leavel. The only maps I’ve seen show a lot of area that is labled 6’ or more below. Pic’s though, seem to show roof gutter lines still a foot or two above water, while lake level is what, 2’ or 3’ above now? This suggests to me that at least the house foundations are about 5’ or below. I still don’t know where the level got to 20 feet deep as was widely reported, unless they include canals or underpasses.

I still haven’t found better maps, after cruising this site a little. The google depth thing looks pretty good though, although it said 11’ next to the main levee break (the canal between Metairie and New Orleans) where the homes there are the ones mentioned above. Pretty close tho, and maybe elevations use street level.

From before the levee break I was debating this simplified picture of all of New Orleans filling to 20 feet, though looking at New Orleans East that may have been more feasible than I thought, though not that deep everywhere.

But after the break, with lake levels at 6 feet and falling, they were still broadcasting that the bowl was filling, and some saying the entire city would fill to 12 - 15 feet. This alarmist news was not founded in fact, and did not help the situation. Best I could tell, actual levels only went up a couple more feet in some areas.

Anyway, nice site … I’m still cruising it :) It seems blog people were the only ones considering depth maps while the alarmist headlines were being spread.

Bill

Bill H | 09/07/2005 at 12:10 PM | #

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