Potential of Twitter derived flood maps : comparing interpolation methods and assessing uncertainties

As a result of the increasing number of floods, caused by phenomena such as urbanization and climate change, there is an increasing demand for accurate and timely flood information. The objective of this research was to establish a preferred method of estimating flood extents from Twitter data and assess the uncertainties and applicability of the maps created using this method. To achieve this objective, the research included a comparison of different ways of applying interpolation to create flood maps from the Twitter data, an assessment of the uncertainty in flood extent and a variety of analyses to investigate in what context the Twitter derived flood maps can be applied. Therefore two case studies of recent floods in Jakarta (Indonesia) and York (United Kingdom) were evaluated.