Run Watchers: Automatic Simulation-Based Decision Support in Flood Management

Artem Konev, Jürgen Waser, Berhard Sadransky, Daniel Cornel, Rui A.P. Perdigao, Zsolt Horvath, Meister Eduard Gröller
Run Watchers: Automatic Simulation-Based Decision Support in Flood Management
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 20(12):1873-1882, December 2014. [Paper]

Information

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a simulation-based approach to design protection plans for flood events. Existing solutions require a lot of computation time for an exhaustive search, or demand for a time-consuming expert supervision and steering. We present a faster alternative based on the automated control of multiple parallel simulation runs. Run Watchers are dedicated system components authorized to monitor simulation runs, terminate them, and start new runs originating from existing ones according to domain-specific rules. This approach allows for a more efficient traversal of the search space and overall performance improvements due to a re-use of simulated states and early termination of failed runs. In the course of search, Run Watchers generate large and complex decision trees. We visualize the entire set of decisions made by Run Watchers using interactive, clustered timelines. In addition, we present visualizations to explain the resulting response plans. Run Watchers automatically generate storyboards to convey plan details and to justify the underlying decisions, including those which leave particular buildings unprotected. We evaluate our solution with domain experts.

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BibTeX

@article{Groeller_2014_RWA,
  title =      "Run Watchers: Automatic Simulation-Based Decision Support in
               Flood Management",
  author =     "Artem Konev and J\"{u}rgen  Waser and Berhard Sadransky and
               Daniel Cornel and Rui A.P. Perdigao and Zsolt Horvath and
               Meister Eduard Gr\"{o}ller",
  year =       "2014",
  abstract =   "In this paper, we introduce a simulation-based approach to
               design protection plans for flood events. Existing solutions
               require a lot of computation time for an exhaustive search,
               or demand for a time-consuming expert supervision and
               steering. We present a faster alternative based on the
               automated control of multiple parallel simulation runs. Run
               Watchers are dedicated system components authorized to
               monitor simulation runs, terminate them, and start new runs
               originating from existing ones according to domain-specific
               rules. This approach allows for a more efficient traversal
               of the search space and overall performance improvements due
               to a re-use of simulated states and early termination of
               failed runs. In the course of search, Run Watchers generate
               large and complex decision trees. We visualize the entire
               set of decisions made by Run Watchers using interactive,
               clustered timelines. In addition, we present visualizations
               to explain the resulting response plans. Run Watchers
               automatically generate storyboards to convey plan details
               and to justify the underlying decisions, including those
               which leave particular buildings unprotected. We evaluate
               our solution with domain experts.",
  month =      dec,
  issn =       "1077-2626",
  journal =    "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics",
  number =     "12",
  volume =     "20",
  booktitle =  "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer
               Graphics/Proceedings of VAST 2014",
  publisher =  "IEEE",
  pages =      "1873--1882",
  keywords =   "visual evidence, Disaster management, simulation control,
               storytelling, decision making",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2014/Groeller_2014_RWA/",
}