The Power of Live Mapping Feeds

Understanding WMS and WFS in FloodMapp

When clients ask, “What will the forecast rainfall look like as a flood extent?” or “How will the predicted peak river level play out?”, FloodMapp products provide an understanding of what the flood extent could look like, the current situation, or what it looked like in the past 30 days. We show that via layers on a map - Web Map Services (WMS) and Web Feature Services (WFS).

Difference Between WMS and WFS

Both formats have different capabilities and use cases:

• WMS provides a visual representation of riverine, overland, and coastal flooding that can be overlayed on a map to show both extent and depth. For example, using FloodMapp’s NowCast product as a WMS layer will show clients what the flooding looks like on the ground in real time.

  WMS: Displaying complex data as an image to improve performance.

• WFS offers extra capabilities compared to WMS. WFS provides greater and more detailed use since clients have direct access to the raw vector data allowing them to run analysis on the polygon. For example, intersecting properties or critical infrastructure with the flood extent polygon can help run analyses on predicted, current, or previous flood impacts.

  WFS: Running analysis to intersect the flood extent polygon with building footprints (red outline).

Clients receive FloodMapp products in both WMS and WFS formats but can swap between the two based on their business needs.

Real-time Intelligence and Decision Making

Accurate, real-time flood intelligence allows emergency managers and their teams to work from a common operating picture and supports public messaging, risk mitigation, impact analytics (predictive or actual), and the deployment of field crews.

The flexibility of using a WMS or WFS, depending on specific needs, supports time-sensitive decision-making by our clients. FloodMapp’s NowCast product updates hourly, so it’s crucial to match modeling speed with data access and processing time, enabling clients to see the situation and interact in real time.

If you’d like to learn more about how FloodMapp’s WMS and WFS layers can support operational situational awareness for you, please email sales@floodmapp.com