Visualization and interaction in a simulation system for flood emergencies

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

This thesis presents an interaction and visualization system for a river flood emergency simulation. It will also present a detailed study about forms of visual representation of critical elements in emergencies. All these elements are currently assembled in an application based on geographic information systems and agent simulation. Many of the goals in this thesis are interconnected with project Life-Saver. This project has the goal to develop an emergency response simulator, which needs a visualization and interaction system. The main goals of this thesis are, to create a visualization system for an emergency, to design an intuitive multimedia interface and to implement new forms of human-computer interaction. At the application level there is a representation of the simulation scenario with the multiple agent and their actions. Several studies were made to create an intuitive interface. New forms of multimedia interaction are studied and used such as interactive touch sensible boards and multi-touch panels. It is possible to load and retrieve geographic information on the scenario. The resulting architecture is used to visualize a simulation of an emergency flooding situation in a scenario where the Alqueva dam in Guadiana river fails.