Can Yen Bai flash flood predictable thanks to GIS technology?

If you take a look at American websites about Hurricane Katrina, you will see a technology that is applied throughout the storm's journey. It is GIS (GIS - Geography Information System). This technology has described the nature, predicting the path, the scope of influence and helping a lot in resolving the aftermath of the storm. Can it be applied in Vietnam?

A GIS system - shows a wide-ranging temperature model.

Predict and mitigate natural disasters

GIS - Geography Information System or "Geographic Information System" was originally understood to be a wonderful 'marriage' between IT and Geography science. But with the development and versatility of GIS today this technology has a much broader concept. By integrating information about Nature, Socio-economics and other information, users can produce 'products' according to their requirements.

GIS has appeared in the world for a long time and has been thoroughly developed by countries in all areas of life. From some of GoogleEarth's GIS online mapping tools (www.earth.google.com), you can see both the globe and zooms close to each of the NewYork supermarkets, just Road for you to anywhere in American cities. or watch the Effel tower of Paris .

However, we want to first mention the application of GIS in natural disaster prevention and natural disasters - this is an application of GIS in hydrometeorology. There are many researches on the Internet on GIS application in the construction of flood maps or flood forecasting. You can refer to: http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/natural_hazards/floods/ma03138.htm or http://www.gisdevelopment.net/aars/acrs/1999/ts14/ts14106.shtml.

Why is Vietnam a country that always suffers from natural disasters and floods every year, with great damage to people and people without seeing a specific application or dissemination of this technology in the world? In fact, is GIS technology so high? Too complicated? Or is it just a universal and versatile technology that can be applied in many fields, each person can access and use easily?

For a long time, GIS seminars in Vietnam have shown that the widespread application of GIS in our country will have immense and urgent benefits. One of the clearest evidence is the consequences of typhoon 7 and flash floods in Van Chan (Yen Bai).

For example, a GIS map created in the Yen Bai mountains will identify factors such as the degree of forest destruction, the slope, the area of ​​the slopes . From this information, the computer can calculating, predicting areas at risk of landslides, high flash floods, estimated with how much rainfall, how long is the risk of flash floods. From these predictions, the locality will be able to move the neighborhoods out of the danger zone, or early forecast of potential disasters.

GIS - Digital and universal digital technology

Not only in disaster prevention, GIS is also a versatile digital technology with great applications in many fields and life activities.

GIS system of Hanoi city and big cities will soon become familiar to every Vietnamese citizen ?! Have you ever imagined if you were going to visit Hanoi but you didn't know where to go, by what means? Then you just need to click, the computer will give you an online map of Hanoi, you can find and know all the information you need and the computer will also choose for you to take the vehicle. Which route and schedule etc . That is already so familiar in European cities and soon will become familiar in Vietnam.

GIS is present in almost all fields of science and technology and social life from the 70s of the last century. This technology is not new in the world nor in Vietnam, but it is still limited to know and apply it universally.

In the field of GIS environment used to analyze and model soil erosion processes, spread pollution in gas or water environments.

In Agriculture GIS is an effective tool in monitoring harvest, land use management, forecasting goods, research on cultivated land, irrigation plan, water source inspection.

In the field of finance, GIS has been applied to locate new branches of the Bank. Currently the use of GIS is increasing in this area, it is a risk assessment and insurance purpose tool, determined with higher accuracy than the areas with the highest or lowest risks.

Except for applications in the field of evaluation, management that GIS is often used, it can also be applied in the medical field. For example, indicate the fastest route between the current location of the ambulance and the emergency patient, based on the traffic database. GIS can also be used as a disease research tool to analyze the causes of outbreaks and spread of diseases in the community.

For local managers, GIS application is very effective, because it uses the most spatial data. All local government agencies can benefit from GIS, it can be used in finding and managing land plots, replacing the current paperwork. Local officials can also use GIS in maintenance of houses and roads. GIS is also used in control and emergency management centers.

In the field of transport, electricity, gas, telephone, etc. the most flexible GIS application, GIS is used to build databases, which is the element of information technology strategy of companies in the field. this.

On a GIS system of Catrina alarm, there are enough factors to analyze the trend of activities, the next impact . The most specific example is in the recent Hurricane Katrina in the US, GIS technology was used in storm research, modeling, forecasting and especially in the aftermath of the storm. You can learn more about the versatility of this technology at several Web sites: http://www.Esri.com or http://www.gis.com.

In Vietnam, GIS has also been applied for a long time and in many fields. In the past, GIS was mostly applied at institutes, research centers or universities. But now GIS has started to be popular in many areas of life because learning and using this technology is as simple as any other popular software program we are using. One of the places with training in using this technology in Vietnam is VidaGIS company (www.vidagis.com), many agencies and localities have researched and applied GIS such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment . Certainly soon, GIS will become an indispensable part for the needs of each citizen.

More details can be found at some of the world's specialized and GIS training and research websites: www.esri.com, www.gisworld.com, www.gis.com, vidagis.com, www.nea .gov.vn .

The Phong