11-05, 14:30–15:00 (America/New_York), Lake Fairfax
We showcase a flood simulator using Cesium’s 3D OSM tiles and dynamic water modeling, visualizing sea-level rise scenarios for immersive, interactive exploration of real-world flood impacts.
This project presents a 3D flood simulation game built using OpenStreetMap data and the Cesium for Unity engine to help users visualize the impacts of climate change and sea level rise on their own communities. Designed with YouthMappers in mind, the simulation enables users to explore localized flood scenarios and fosters climate risk awareness through immersive, personalized experiences. Future developments include interactive character navigation by land, sea, and air to deepen user engagement. Supported by the Cesium Ecosystem Grant and YouthMappers, this initiative transforms abstract climate data into vivid, relatable visual narratives.
Michael Mann is an Associate Professor of Geography at George Washington University, specializing in agriculture, land use, and GIS. He holds a PhD and MA in Earth & Environment from Boston University, and a BA in Economics from the College of Wooster. Dr. Mann's research, funded by various grants, focuses on fire probability modeling, OpenStreetMap, the ecology of MERS-CoV, and the use of remote sensing for agricultural and urban sustainability. His publications explore the integration of geospatial data and machine learning in environmental studies, and is the author of pygis.io, an open access textbook on python for geospatial analysis in python.