Spatial Management of Risks

Spatial analysis is an increasingly important tool for detecting and preventing numerous risk and crisis phenomena such as floods in a geographical area. This book concentrates on examples of prevention but also gives crisis control advice and practical case studies.  Some chapters address urban applications in which vulnerabilities are concentrated in area; others address more rural areas with more scattered phenomena.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xiii Chapter 1. From Prevention to Risk Management: Use of GIS 1 Sophie SAUVAGNARGUES-LESAGE 1.1. Introduction 1 1.2. GIS and public security 3 1.3. Examples of applications for public security 8 1.3.1. SIGASC application 8 1.3.2. Application 12 1.3.3. SIG CODIS application 15 1.4. Prospects for development 18 1.5. Conclusion 19 1.6. Bibliography 19 Chapter 2. Coupled Use of Spatial Analysis and Fuzzy Arithmetic: Assessing the Vulnerability of a Watershed to Phytosanitary Products 23 Bertrand DE BRUYN, Catherine FREISSINET and Michel VAUCLIN 2.1. Introduction 23 2.2. Construction of the index 24 2.3. Implementation of fuzzy calculations 26 2.4. Application to the watershed of Vannetin: vulnerability to atrazine 28 2.4.1. The research site 28 2.4.2. Parameters of the watershed 28 2.4.3. Cell parameters 29 2.4.4. Fuzzy parameters 30 2.4.5. Representation of the indicator and of its related inaccuracy 31 2.5. Conclusion 33 2.6. Bibliography 36 Chapter 3. Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution 39 Philippe BOLO and Christophe BRACHET 3.1. Introduction 39 3.2. Mapping non-point source pollution phenomenon 40 3.2.1. Mapping principles 40 3.2.2. Description of the research phenomenon 41 3.2.3. Mapping steps 41 3.3. Territorial database building rules 42 3.3.1. Choosing software programs 43 3.3.2. Design of the implemented GIS 44 3.3.3. Organizing and creating geographic information layers 46 3.3.4. Organizing and creating attribute tables 47 3.4. The data sources used 48 3.4.1. Identifying the available information 48 3.4.2. Soil-related data 49 3.4.3. Topography-related data 52 3.4.4. Land use-related data 54 3.4.5. Land planning-related data 56 3.5. Pollution risk zoning 58 3.5.1. Treatments to be performed 58 3.5.2. An example of risk zoning 60 3.6. Risk zoning applications 66 3.6.1. Risk knowledge applications 67 3.6.2. Spatial planning applications 67 3.6.3. Applications related to monitoring water quality 68 3.7. Conclusion 69 3.8. Bibliography 70 Chapter 4. Cartographic Index and History of Road Sites that Face Natural Hazards in the Province of Turin 71 Paola ALLEGRA, Laura TURCONI and Domenico TROPEANO 4.1. Introduction 71 4.2. Principal risks 73 4.3. Research area 74 4.3.1. Geological insight 74 4.3.2. Morphology of the research areas 75 4.4. Working method 76 4.5. Computer-based synthetic analysis and transcription of historical data and information collected on the research area 78 4.6. First results 80 4.7. Structure of computer thematic mapping 82 4.8. Application and use of the method 84 4.9. Bibliography 85 Chapter 5. Forest and Mountain Natural Risks: From Hazard Representation to Risk Zoning – The Example of Avalanches 87 Frédéric BERGER and Jérôme LIÉVOIS 5.1. Introduction 87 5.1.1. General information on forests 87 5.1.2. The protective role of mountain forests 88 5.2. Identification of protective forest zones 90 5.2.1. General principle 90 5.2.2. Methodology 90 5.2.3. Building up a synthesis map of natural hazards 91 5.2.4. Building up the forest map 102 5.2.5. Building up the natural forest-hazard synthesis map 102 5.2.6. Building up the map of socio-economic issues and vulnerability 103 5.2.7. Building up the priority areas for forestry action map 104 5.3. Perspectives 105 5.4. The creation of green zones in risk prevention plans 106 5.4.1. Natural hazard prevention plans 106 5.4.2. Transfer from researchers to users 107 5.4.3. The method used 108 5.4.4. Consequences of these works 111 5.4.5. Reflections and perspectives 111 5.5. Conclusion: general recommendations 112 5.6. Bibliography 112 Chapter 6. GIS and Modeling in Forest Fire Prevention 115 Marielle JAPPIOT, Raphaële BLANCHI and Franck GUARNIERI 6.1. Understanding forest fire risks 115 6.1.1. Risk 116 6.1.2. Description of the phenomenon 116 6.1.3. Particularities of fire risk 117 6.1.4. A spatio-temporal variation of forest fire risk 122 6.2. Forest fire management: risk mapping and the use of spatial analysis 123 6.2.1. Requirements with respect to forest fire risk assessment 123 6.2.2. Forest fire risk assessment and mapping: the use of geographic information systems 126 6.3. Using GIS to map forest fire risks 137 6.3.1. Forest fire risk assessment and mapping in the Massif des Maures (Department of Var): raster GIS 138 6.3.2. WILFRIED – fire fighting support (coupling GIS and model) 143 6.4. Conclusion 147 6.5. Bibliography 148 Chapter 7. Spatial Decision Support and Multi-Agent Systems: Application to Forest Fire Prevention and Control 151 Franck GUARNIERI, Alain JABER and Jean-Luc WYBO 7.1. Introduction 151 7.2. Natural risk prevention support and the need for cooperation between the software programs 152 7.2.1. The cooperation issue between the information systems 152 7.2.2. The various approaches aiming at facilitating this type of cooperation 153 7.3. Towards an intelligent software agent model to satisfy the cooperation between the decision-support systems dedicated to natural risk prevention 154 7.3.1. The multi-agent paradigm 154 7.3.2. Intelligent software agents 155 7.3.3. A proposed intelligent software agent model 157 7.4. Experiment in the field of forest fire prevention and control 158 7.4.1. Context of the experiment 158 7.4.2. The experiment scenario 160 7.4.3. First part of the scenario 160 7.4.4. Second part of the scenario 161 7.4.5. An example of problem solving 165 7.4.6. Conclusion of the scenario 166 7.5. Conclusions and perspectives 166 7.6. Bibliography 167 Chapter 8. Flood Monitoring Systems 169 Jean-Jacques VIDAL and Noël WATRIN 8.1. Introduction 169 8.2. Flood monitoring and warning 170 8.3. Situation diversity 171 8.3.1. Spatial information for a better understanding of the phenomenon 173 8.3.2. Spatial information for flood impact assessment 174 8.4. Technical answers 175 8.4.1. Hydrological observing networks 175 8.4.2. Data processing 176 8.4.3. The integration of acquired knowledge in the natural hazard prevention policy 178 8.5. Conclusion 178 8.6. Bibliography 179 Chapter 9. Geography Applied to Mapping Flood-Sensitive Areas: A Methodological Approach 181 Christophe PRUNET and Jean-Jacques VIDAL 9.1. Introduction 181 9.2. A geographic analysis of flooding 182 9.2.1. Intensity 182 9.2.2. Frequency 182 9.2.3. Extension 185 9.3. A concrete example 188 9.4. Bibliography 190 Chapter 10. Information Systems and Diked Areas: Examples at the National, Regional and Local Levels 193 Pierre MAUREL, Rémy TOURMENT and William HALBECQ 10.1. Context 193 10.2. Analysis of the current situation for the management of diked areas 195 10.3. Spatial dimension and integrated management of diked areas 197 10.4. Examples of information systems dedicated to diked areas 198 10.4.1. An information system at the national level for dike inventory 199 10.4.2. An information system at the regional level to analyze dike failure risks in the Mid-Loire region 200 10.4.3. An information system at local level for the integrated management of diked areas 203 10.5. Recent progress and perspectives 212 10.6. Bibliography 213 Chapter 11. Geomatics and Urban Risk Management: Expected Advances 215 Jean-Pierre ASTÉ 11.1. Towns, risks and geomatics 215 11.1.1. An overview 215 11.1.2. City: a much sought after security area 216 11.1.3. Risk: a poorly understood notion 217 11.1.4. Geomatics as a data structuring and management tool 217 11.2. Prevention stakeholders: their responsibilities, their current resources and expectations 218 11.2.1. Ordinary state or emergency state 218 11.2.2. Government and institutional stakeholders 218 11.2.3. Municipal stakeholders and the populations they represent 219 11.2.4. Operational and technical stakeholders 220 11.2.5. Insurance agents 220 11.2.6. Scientific stakeholders 221 11.2.7. Compelled to live with an identified risk 222 11.3. Today’s methods and tools: strengths and weaknesses 223 11.3.1. Urban reference systems and the expected connection with the digitizing of cadastral maps 223 11.3.2. Managing experience 224 11.3.3. Knowledge and modeling of phenomena 226 11.3.4. Monitoring phenomena 227 11.3.5. Reducing vulnerability 227 11.3.6. Risk assessment 228 11.3.7. Macro and microeconomic approach 229 11.3.8. The means of exchange of experiences, skills and knowledge 230 11.3.9. Consultation, public information, training and culture 230 11.4. New potentialities using geomatic methods and tools 232 11.4.1. Geomatics 232 11.4.2. Acquiring and structuring spatial and temporal data 233 11.4.3. Modeling phenomena and behaviors 235 11.4.4. Task analysis and support to complete and control them 237 11.4.5. Managing experience and knowledge 238 11.4.6. Quantified and hierarchical appreciation of the risks involved 239 11.5. Some ongoing initiatives since the beginning of 2001 240 11.5.1. Examples from Lyon: the information system of the service of Balmes and the GERICO project 240 11.5.2. An Alpine concern: avalanche risk management 242 11.5.3. Risk management and natural or man-made subterranean caverns, mines and quarries 243 11.5.4. The RADIUS project of the international decade for natural disaster reduction (Décennie internationale pour la prevention des catastrophes naturelles (DIPCN)) 243 11.5.5. Bogotá and its risk and crisis information system (SIRE) 244 11.5.6. The COEUR project in preparation between the Rhône-Alpine and Mediterranean cities 244 11.5.7. The Base-In project of recording Grenoble’s historical floods 245 11.6. Assessment and outlook: fundamental elements of future systems 245 11.6.1. Territory 246 11.6.2. Phenomena 246 11.6.3. Stakeholders 247 11.7. Bibliography 247 List of Authors 249 Index 251

About the Author :
Gérard Brugnot heads the natural risks section at Cemagref, Grenoble, France.