🌊 Generalized Immersive Flood Information System (GIFIS)

About GIFIS

The Generalized Immersive Flood Information System (GIFIS) Specification defines a structured, extensible data model for representing, validating, and publishing hydrologic and geospatial datasets in immersive environments (VR/AR/MR).
It provides JSON Schema–based profiles for core entities such as locations, events, alerts, and flood maps.

Core Features

• JSON Schema–driven validation for consistency and interoperability
• Support for geospatial formats (GeoJSON, 3D Tiles, glTF)
• Standardized metadata for hydrologic, meteorological, and sensor data
• Integration with alerting systems and flood forecast models
• Designed for real-time immersive visualization (VR/AR/MR)

Get Started

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/uihilab/GIFIS.git

2. Explore the JSON Schemas in:

   src/gifis-core/1.0/
   

3. Validate your data using tools like AJV: https://ajv.js.org/
4. Contribute via pull requests and discussions

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GIFIS Specification

Below you can explore each schema in the GIFIS Specification.
Click on a section to expand details.

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🌐 1. Core Schema

Defines the base structure all GIFIS objects inherit from.

Key Fields:

• id → Unique identifier (loc-123, evt-456)
• specVersion → Namespace + version (gifis-core@1.0)
• schemaRef → Canonical schema URL
• metadata → Creator, license, provenance
• updatedAt → Timestamp

📄 File: core.schema.json

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📍 2. Location Schema

Represents geographic locations where hydrologic or meteorological events occur.

Includes:

• geometry → GeoJSON / 3D Tiles reference
• properties → Name, type, region, etc.
• Extends Core Schema

📄 File: location.schema.json

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📅 3. Event Schema

Describes flood-related events such as rainfall, discharge, or inundation.

Includes:

• eventType → (rainfall, flood, storm surge…)
• timeRange → Start / End time
• locationRef → Link to Location object
• Extends Core Schema

📄 File: event.schema.json

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🚨 4. Alert Schema

Represents hazard alerts tied to floods or hydrologic events.

Includes:

• alertType → Flood Watch / Flood Warning / Advisory
• severity → Minor / Moderate / Major
• area → Linked Location(s) or bounding geometry
• issuedAt & expiresAt → Validity window

📄 File: alert.schema.json

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🗺️ 5. Flood Map Schema

Defines geospatial flood map overlays for immersive visualization.

Includes:

• geometry → Polygon / Raster reference (GeoJSON, TIFF)
• properties → Depth, extent, classification
• timestamp → When the map applies
• Extends Core Schema

📄 File: floodmap.schema.json

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GIFIS Schema Overview

Core Schema

core.schema.json provides the foundation for all GIFIS objects, defining identifiers, versioning, metadata, and update semantics.
This base schema ensures consistency and interoperability across all GIFIS profiles.

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Profiles

GIFIS includes several specialized profiles built on top of the Core Schema:

• Location – Representation of spatial entities with geometry and associated metadata
• Event – Definitions for flood-related events, their temporal spans, and descriptive metadata
• Alert – Hazard warnings and advisories linked to affected regions or locations
• Flood Map – Raster or vector (GeoJSON) overlays representing hazard extents for visualization and analysis

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Validation

All schemas conform to JSON Schema Draft 2020-12.
You can validate the entire GIFIS specification using the GitHub workflow:

.github/workflows/validate-schemas.yml

This ensures that schema updates remain compliant and interoperable across all tools consuming GIFIS datasets.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome!
Please open an issue or pull request.

For major changes, open an issue first so we can discuss your proposal and align it with the specification roadmap.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

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Acknowledgements

This project is developed by the Tulane Hydroinformatics Lab: https://hydrointelligence.github.io/.

Mudiyanselage, U., Sajja, R., Sermet, Y., & Demir, I. (2025). GIFIS: A Generalized Immersive Flood Information System Specification