Airborne Lasers Assess Flood Risks

The Bluesky data is part of 3D terrain map, available online, that covers most of England and Wales including all major urban centres, coastal areas and flood plains.
 
Ambiental, a specialist environmental risk mapping and modelling consultancy, used a combination of existing datasets, models and gauged data in combination with their proprietary modelling and mapping techniques to assess and quantify each flood source in turn. Potential sources of flooding considered during the analysis included fluvial (river), tidal, surface water, sewer and groundwater. The high-resolution LiDAR data, supplied by Bluesky, was used to map each risk in 3D to ascertain the spatial distribution of different flood depths. The results of these assessments were used for business planning purposes, specifically within cost-benefit analysis for flood defence measures at each site.