Application of Location-Based Service for Flood Vulnerability Assessment of Part of Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Flood disaster has been a global emergency issue, the cause my be traced to both natural and man-influence factors, the alarming increase in global warming has an underlying effect on glacial melting, sea level rise etc., these, coupled with the effect of human activities such construction along floodplain, deposit of waste in rivers etc., have pose a threat not only lives but putting properties into danger. To alleviate the effects of this flooding, emergency agencies and individuals must be informed about the status of this emergency. Flood vulnerability status is thus a reliable solution to such a problem. How will individuals get the current vulnerability status of their current locations? The research revolves around creating an android application capable of indicating the vulnerability to flooding points within the study area. Data sources include the administrative map, Digital Elevation Model, and Landsat Imagery with bands 6, 7, and 8. ArcGIS software was used to produce the study area's flood vulnerability information and database. Different elevation ranges: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high) were classified to determine the flood vulnerability status. The Android application was developed using Android Studio. The location-based service in the mobile device helps to correlate the longitude and latitude information of points within the study with the database to determine the vulnerability status of an area to flooding on an average scale. It also stores such details. The results show that the study area is a relatively low terrain and is more vulnerable to flooding, with very low and low terrain having a percentage of 18% and 36%, respectively. The result also shows that only 11% of the study area is built up with vegetation, and farmland has a percentage of 18% and 22%, respectively. Although it was discovered that the flood vulnerability assessment can only be done within the study area, updates can be made to enable it to work for other areas.