Optimal evacuation routing using LiDAR-based flood models

Abstract

Flooding is one of the most recurring disasters. Evacuation planning is one of the fundamental instruments to mitigate negative impacts of this hazard to the community. Routing is part of evacuation planning that determines the best routes for relocating population. In this study, evacuation routing is focused to the output of the UP Mindanao Phil-LiDAR1. The Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology is an airborne mapping method that delivers geospatial data in the form of point clouds with high-accuracy elevation values and ground features. Building and road network features extracted from the LiDAR data were used to create network dataset. Flood hazard models were used to identify areas in the network that are at risk of flooding. Capacity Aware Shortest Path Evacuation Routing (CASPER) of the ArcGIS Network Analyst Tool’s extension was used to simulate evacuation routes. The tool uses the CASPER algorithm, a heuristic evacuation routing method that takes into account the capacity of the transportation network and the traffic flow in order to minimize traffic congestion. This study and the data it produced can help the local government units in their planning and disaster risk reduction management.