Google Flood Forecasting Dataset

Einführung

Google Flood Forecasting project collaborates with governments to generate real time flood alerts and inundation maps and send them to the population based on their location.

In this page Google shares its flood alerts and maps with the research community.

Reaching the Flood forecasting dataset

Apply for access
Go to the following addresses using the same google account: https://console.cloud.google.com/storage/browser/floods-data

The Google Cloud Storage address is gs://floods-data

Dataset details and format

Dataset details
API version	1.1
Start date	2021-01-25
Update frequency	30 Minuten
Directory structure	YYYY/MM/DD/HH/mm/alert_id/alert_id.json YYYY/MM/DD/HH/mm/alert_id/alert_id.kml The alerts are stored in directories according to their generation time. Each alert has two associated flies: the alert data file in JSON format, and the maps associated with the alert in KML format. An alert is issued by the system for every supported location approximately every 30 minutes, regardless of that location’s flooding state. See the fields description below for notes on how to interpret the data.

Alert data fields
apiVersion	String, mandatory. Major versions indicate breaking changes in the API schema, minor versions indicate backward-compatible changes.
alertMetadata.district	String, optional.
alertMetadata.gaugeStationName	String, optional.
alertMetadata.stationId	String, mandatory.
alertMetadata.publisherName	String, optional.
alertMetadata.river	String, optional.
alertMetadata.state	String, optional.
alertMetadata.waterLevelThresholds.warningLevel	Float, optional. If exists, indicates the water level in meters above which Google issues a warning alert.
alertMetadata.waterLevelThresholds.dangerLevel	Float, optional. If exists, indicates the water level in meters above which Google issues a danger alert.
alertMetadata.waterLevelThresholds.extremeDangerLevel	Float, optional. If exists, indicates the water level in meters above which Google issues a severe danger alert.
issueTimestampSeconds	Int64 string, mandatory. Unix timestamp of the alert issue time.
expirationTimestampSeconds	Int64 string, mandatory. Unix timestamp of the alert expiration time.
hasFlooding	Boolean, mandatory. A summary field which indicates whether this alert contains flood information, either at the time of issuance (currentState) or one of its forecasted states.
currentState.startTimestampSeconds	Int64 string, mandatory. Unix timestamp of the start of the timespan this state refers to. Start and end times will be equal for point-in-time forecasts.
currentState.endTimestampSeconds	Int64 string, mandatory. Unix timestamp of the end of the timespan this state refers to. Start and end times will be equal for point-in-time forecasts.
currentState.severity	String, mandatory. One of: NO_FLOODING WARNING DANGER EXTREME_DANGER
currentState.riskMapType	String, optional. Populated if the state has an associated risk map. Can be one of: DEPTH PROBABILITY Fore depth maps, higher risk level should be interpreted as higher forecasted depth. For probability maps, higher risk level should be interpreted as higher probability of flood.
forecastedStates	Object array, see fields below. An array with objects representing states forecasted by the model.
forecastedStates[i].startTimestampSeconds	Int64 string, mandatory. Unix timestamp of the start of the timespan this state refers to. Start and end times will be equal for point-in-time forecasts.
forecastedStates[i].endTimestampSeconds	Int64 string, mandatory. Unix timestamp of the end of the timespan this state refers to. Start and end times will be equal for point-in-time forecasts.
forecastedStates[i].severity	String, mandatory. One of: NO_FLOODING WARNING DANGER EXTREME_DANGER
forecastedStates[i].waterLevelChange.lowerBoundMeters	Float, mandatory optional (starting v1.1). The lower bound of the forecasted water level change, in meters.
forecastedStates[i].waterLevelChange.upperBoundMeters	Float, mandatory optional (starting v1.1). The upper bound of the forecasted water level change, in meters.
forecastedStates[i].waterLevelChange.lowerBoundInches	Float, mandatory optional (starting v1.1). The lower bound of the forecasted water level change, in inches.
forecastedStates[i].waterLevelChange.upperBoundInches	Float, mandatory optional (starting v1.1). The upper bound of the forecasted water level change, in inches.
forecastedStates[i].riskMapType	String, optional. Populated if the state has an associated risk map. Can be one of: DEPTH PROBABILITY Fore depth maps, higher risk level should be interpreted as higher forecasted depth. For probability maps, higher risk level should be interpreted as higher probability of flood.
notificationArea.s2CellIds	UInt64 string array, optional. The alert’s notification area, if it exists. The area is represented as an S2 cell cover. See: https://s2geometry.io/
KML maps
The KML file associated with the alert will contain the following polygons, if possible:
aoi_polygon	The area of interest the alert applies to.
current_<risk_level>_risk_area	The polygon that defines the risk area of the current state for the following risk levels: low medium high See currentState.riskMapType for information on how to interpret the different risk levels.
current_border_risk_area	The border of the current state’s inundation forecast area.
forecast_<i>_<risk_level>_risk_area	The polygon that defines the risk area of the i’th forecasted state for the following risk levels: low medium high See currentState.riskMapType for information on how to interpret the different risk levels.
forecast_border_risk_area	The border of the i’th forecasted state inundation forecast area.

Example alert

{

"alertMetadata": {

"district": "SONITPUR",

"gaugeStationName": "Jiabharali NT Road X-ing",

"stationId": "030-UBDDIB",

"publisherName": "B&BBO, Shillong",

"river": "Brahmaputra/ Jiabharali",

"state": "Assam",

"waterLevelThresholds": {

"warningLevel": 76,

"dangerLevel": 77,

"extremeDangerLevel": 78.5

}

"issueTimestampSeconds": "1635541515",

"expirationTimestampSeconds": "1635714315",

"hasFlooding": true,

"currentState": {

"startTimestampSeconds": "1635532200",

"endTimestampSeconds": "1635532200",

"severity": "WARNING",

"riskMapType": "DEPTH"

"forecastedStates": [

{

"startTimestampSeconds": "1635564600",

"endTimestampSeconds": "1635564600",

"waterLevelValueMeters": 76.09,

"severity": "WARNING",

"waterLevelChange": {

"lowerBoundMeters": -0.1,

"upperBoundMeters": 0,

"lowerBoundInches": -4,

"upperBoundInches": 0

"riskMapType": "DEPTH"

}

]

}

API Updates

[Version 1.1, July 17th 2023] Bug fix: up to now [lower/upper]Bound[Meters/Inches] was sometimes sent as zero when it shouldn’t have been included at all. In cases where we want to say “Rise of at least X” or “Fall of at least Y” we’ll include a lower bound of X and no upper bound, or an upper bound of Y with no lower bound, respectively.