SmartFLOOD

SmartFLOOD is a cloud-web platform from GECOsistema for mapping fluvial (river) flood hazard over large areas, where running detailed hydrodynamic models for every basin is too costly or the data are scarce. Its core is the Geomorphic Flood Index (GFI), computed by terrain analysis of hydrologically corrected digital elevation models: a 25 m model for Europe and, for the global version, the 90 m MERIT Hydro dataset, which is built on MERIT DEM, an elevation model derived from spaceborne DEMs including NASA SRTM and JAXA AW3D. A machine-learning binary classifier calibrates a GFI threshold against a benchmark flood hazard map that the user selects from available maps or uploads: hydrodynamic simulation results (for example JRC LISFLOOD), Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite flood classifications, or on-site surveys. The result extends local flood studies to uncovered areas (for example from a sub-basin to a whole river basin) and downscales coarser reference maps, with performance metrics reported per river basin. In the peer-reviewed method paper (Tavares da Costa et al., 2019), co-authored by GECOsistema staff and cited on the product page, the approach reproduced reference flood maps with a classification skill of 88.59% across 270 major European river basins and 84.23% across 64 sub-catchments of the Po River. Pan-European (25 m) and global (90 m) versions exist. A free version with area and resolution limits is available after registration; full use is by annual subscription per zone (EU NUTS 1 regions or hydro-basins), and output maps can be downloaded. GECOsistema targets insurers and reinsurers defining flood risk transfer schemes, public authorities that need homogeneous large-area mapping for EU Water Framework Directive requirements, and users who need local maps in data-scarce regions.