The impacts of global warming are increasingly noticeable in Ireland's coastal areas, prompting local communities to brace themselves for their new reality unpredictable flash floods caused by rising sea levels and more severe storms.
Clontarf in North County Dublin, residents express concern and confusion over the lack of action to address present and future disaster threats. Our research with the Dublin City Council unveiled the presence of an entire underground flood defence system. However, due to the rising sea levels, this system has become ineffective, underscoring the pressing need for proactive measures to mitigate the looming risks.
The problem
Clontarf is suffering from unexpected flash flooding as a result of climate change. The Dublin City Council explained to us how the local community are ill informed and slow to act on this serious issue. However, following resident interviews the community are worried about their home and feel like DCC aren’t doing enough to inform and warn them about the impact of climate change on their everyday lives, they want to take action but don’t know how
How might we empower Clontarfs community to use the power of AI to better prepare themselves against their new reality of unexpected flash flooding as a result of Climate change
Proposal
We went to Clontarf and interviewed several different stakeholders that are impacted by these unexpected flash floods. Through our research, we identified a communication gap between Dublin City Council and the residents of Clontarf. We chatted to them about creating a better understanding of what the issue is and how they can play their part in mitigating the impacts. With a large population of elderly residents the solution will need to be user friendly for all age cohorts
AImsirs interactive board is home to the AI and serves as the centralised hub for all collected information, providing a platform for local community members to interact with the product and utilize its features. Here, residents can access flood prediction maps and discover strategies for enhancing community preparedness and mitigating potential flood impacts.
Thorough prototyping and meticulous testing with stakeholders was crucial to ensuring that the final design proposal accurately caters to the users needs
Users can navigate through their desired topic through clear visual screen flows providing with them with locations of vulnerable and possible affected flood areas. With a high population of sea swimmers in Clontarf, AImsirs interactive board provides key sea related information such as the sea water quality and and tidal information. Highly accurate weather forecasts for Clontarf alone will also be accessible through AImsir
Furthermore, users have the option to utilize the "Let's Chat" button to interact with AImsir's AI chatbot. Here, residents can inquire about innovative strategies to enhance the resilience of their homes and businesses against the potential impacts of flash floods. In situations where sea conditions are unsuitable for swimming, users can also seek guidance from the AI regarding safe swimming locations or alternative activities for the day
Vacant spaces on the board will be filled with informative additions, such as a map indicating the location of AEDs, complete with a QR code to guide users to the nearest one when necessary
But where does AImsir gets its information?
AImsirs Seawall device gathers essential data on seawater conditions and transmits this information in real time to the interactive board, ensuring the availability of highly precise and up to date data while also strengthening the devices AI capabilities. This will provide essential data to the flood prediction and swimmer safety aspect of the device. Situated on the inside of the seawall, the tide passes through the device gathering constant information and also powering the device through the internal hydroelectric inpeller
AImsir gets its Primary information through the seawall device and gets secondary information through a variety of external sources for example Met Eireann. This abundance of both primary and secondary data strengthens the AI making a more reliable and knowledgeable AI which will will create more accurate predictions
