Development of flood mapping techniques and their efforts on flood assessment and management in European coastal cities

Coastal areas are highly vulnerable to climate change and, in these areas as elsewhere, the assessment and management of climate risks is a key issue. Among natural hazards, flood is one of the most damaging. Flood mapping supports risk assessment and management. In the last decade, new technologies have allowed many innovations in cartography, both in the data acquisition, processing, and modelling phases. In flood mapping, the identification of data and the methodological approach are the first key aspects. Other fundamental aspects are the visualization, transfer and communication of data to different users. Graphic semiology is the discipline that identifies the techniques that make data usable. In this contribution, key steps of flood mapping are analysed, through the study of techniques and products. Furthermore, possible directions for mapping research and development to support flood assessment and management are identified. To validate the theories, the process of developing a flood risk map of road system will be illustrated.