Rapid mapping of urban development from historic Ordnance Survey maps: An application for pluvial flood risk in Worcester

Abstract

Between 2004 and 2008 the city of Worcester, UK experienced a number of pluvial flood events. The causes of this kind of flooding are the topic of ongoing research. This paper describes a study that aimed to investigate the urban development of Worcester over time in relation to the location of recorded pluvial flood incidents. A novel rapid mapping method has been developed to derive urban development over five time periods between 1886 and 1995 from scanned Ordnance Survey historical maps. The technique compared well with manual digitisation results with k-hat values ranging from 0.67 to 0.87 for the land use maps created for different time periods. The technique performed least well for the oldest map series, due to misclassification of the abundant symbols and annotation. The method will be particularly beneficial for investigation of town/city development in time over large areas. The resulting map of urban development in Worcester (scale 1:20,000) shows that almost half of the recorded pluvial flood incidents occurred in areas developed between 1956 and 1975, which contradicts local belief that an outdated (Victorian) drainage system causes most of the problems. The quality of the post World War II developments is more likely to be a source for concern.

Hydrography and geomorphology of Antananarivo High City (Madagascar)

“…For these reasons, the High City is currently included in the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list. Detailed thematic maps are of basic importance for the study of landslide processes (Calista et al, 2016;Frodella, Morelli, Fidolini, Pazzi, & Fanti, 2014;Smith & Ellison, 1999) and for analysing the landform evolution during the Quaternary (De Muro, Ibba, Simeone, Buosi, & Brambilla, 2017;Karymbalis, Papanastassiou, Gaki-Papanastassiou, Tsanakas, & Maroukian, 2013;Pucci et al, 2015), with special regard to the interactions with human activity (Paliaga, Luino, Turconi, & Faccini, 2018;Roccati, Faccini, Luino, Ciampalini, & Turconi, 2019;Visser, 2014). In this framework, the integration with remote sensing technologies can overcome the limitations of a field approach, by allowing a complete coverage of the analyzed phenomena over wide and inaccessible areas reducing costs and ensuring the safety of the field operators (Bardi et al, 2017;Ciampalini et al, 2019;Del Soldato et al, 2018;Frodella, Gigli, Morelli, Lombardi, & Casagli, 2017a;Gigli et al, 2014).…”

Water in most important towns of the Czech Republic

“…Maps make not only the resulting product, but also an important source of information. For example, Visser (2014) analyses historical maps to identify the causes of floods.…”

Pluvial Flood Risk Assessment Tool (PFRA) for Rainwater Management and Adaptation to Climate Change in Newly Urbanised Areas

“…A pluvial flood results from intense, often convective, rainstorms, which generate a rapid overland flow and pluvial inundation. Flash flooding occurs before the rainfall runoff enters any water course or drainage system [17,18]. Urbanisation growth and observed climate trends have given rise to more frequent and severe urban pluvial flooding.…”