Mapping the Zone: Improving Flood Map Accuracy

Citation

Research Council of the National Academies, N. (2010), "Mapping the Zone: Improving Flood Map Accuracy", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 274-275. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2010.19.2.274.2

If cool books alone can improve flood map accuracy, The National Academies is well on the way. This is a handsomely produced, four‐color treatise that can serve as an introduction to flood mapping or an advanced course in the knowns and unknowns surrounding the science.

Did you know, for instance, that the height of a Colorado mountain might vary by as much as 5.2 feet depending on whether you measure it using the data from the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 or the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929? Nor did I. Of course, the mountain is not likely to be in a floodplain. The book offers five recommendations to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's map modernization program. Better maps are the first stage in floodplain planning to promote better floodplain management and less loss of life and property. Ed Thomas and Sarah Bowen wrote in the November 2009 Natural Hazards Observer, “Map modernization is a major effort by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to digitize, update, and revise flood maps. This effort will significantly increase our understanding of which areas are most susceptible to flooding.”