ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Researchers with the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg will start to develop a new app after receiving a $1.5 million national grant, a news release from the school explains.
The app, funded by the Nationa Science Foundation, will allow researchers to create a web-based app that gathers data identifying flooding risks in coastal communities.
USF St. Pete Remote Sensing Professor Barnali Dixon will be in charge of the research team creating the "CRIS-HAZARD" app. They will be working on the app over the next three years.
According to the university, the app will merge volunteered geographic information and community crowdsourced data – like photos and videos – with close to real-time data on flooding.
The app will reportedly use dynamic modeling, mapping tools and artificial intelligence to come to conclusions on estimated water elevation models to inform emergency managers.
“To develop a custom policy that meets the needs of each unique community, you need to know the data,” Dixon said in a statement. “The power of this system is that it allows us to see the needs of these communities on a very granular scale, so you can then put policies in place.”
Researchers based the idea of the app on the existing Community Resiliency Information System, a web-based platform made back in 2020.
This platform lets residents put in information about issues such as flooding and power outages which can then be used by policymakers and neighborhood leaders in future decisions. They will also be able to see storm surge risk levels and rises in sea levels.
Emergency managers can also use the data to locate areas with people in need of transportation assistance or those with medical needs that need power.
“We have used the application at all our community town halls,” Erica Hall, executive director of the Florida Food Policy Council, said in a statement. “As a community leader and liaison, this will help communities tremendously to understand the connection between sea level rise, climate change, extreme heat and coastal flooding. Some coastally vulnerable neighborhoods also show food insecurity, health disparities and environmental justice concerns.
"Having CRIS map those concerns tells a story that will allow the community to understand.”
The research team will work with community partners in St. Pete's Childs Park to expand to other coastal communities in Pinellas County, including Shore Acres, West and East Lealman and Bahama Shores.
Georgia Tech will also be lending a helping hand with the creation of the app using community and emergency management input.
To learn more about the "CRIS-HAZARD" app, click here.
