Flood Forge XR

Full city view of the XR project.
A walk-mode view of sea walls being placed in the city.
A closer view of buildings and an evacuation route in the city.

My motivation for developing Flood Forge XR came from personal experience. Both my parents come from cities affected by floods, which influenced my perception of flooding events during my childhood. The experience was vivid, and the stories included much more than simply rising water levels. My parents spoke of flooded houses, blocked roads, panicking citizens, and a general sense of helplessness. This made me realize the importance of building an interactive program to allow students to learn more about flooding in a practical manner. Instead of reading theoretical concepts on flood prevention, I thought it would be more engaging for the users to immerse themselves in the environment and make decisions regarding the city's development. I wanted them to experience the effects of the water flow on the infrastructure and see how their actions affect the outcome.

In Flood Forge XR, we implemented a series of interactive web-based XR simulations where users can navigate through the virtual representation of a flood-prone city and prevent the disaster from happening. During the process, however, we faced numerous challenges. Some iterations had poor performance, the city lacked realism, the water effect appeared unrealistic, and the interface could be overcrowded at times. However, dealing with all these issues made me realize that a good simulation does not necessarily have numerous features. On the contrary, it should be smooth and convey some information to the user. I believe I succeeded in creating an educational experience that went beyond visuals and helped people test ideas, analyze the consequences, and understand the importance of proper flood preparation. In the future, I would like to improve the simulation's accuracy and implement new city scenarios, making it more suitable for classrooms and for students.