The New National Elevation Model (NNH) is a new high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of Sweden from airborne laser scanning. It creates many new opportunities, particularly in the area of flood mapping. NNH is provided by Lantmäteriet in two formats, both in raw LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data and in grid format with two meter resolution. These alternatives have advantages and disadvantages and the aim of this thesis research is to identify these. One of the focuses of the study is data storage and thus data structure analysis, resolution and storage facilities. The research questions are: Why and in what context the different NNH-products from the National Land Survey are used (DEM 2+ or point cloud)? What constraints and opportunities are created by the different options, mainly in terms of different software, resolution, and data storage? The study area is Kärsön in Ekerö municipality located in Stockholms län and has an approximate area of 25 square kilometers. The study is divided into two parts. The first objective is to identify the consequences of using different software to create DEM from pointcloud compared to the DEM2+ model. Height models with a two meter resolution are created in FME and ArcGIS. The models are then compared with the grid from Lantmäteriet, created in TerraScan. The second objective is to examine the impact of the change in resolution, both the storage aspect and both the accuracy aspect. Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) is an interpolation method which in previous studies proved to have the best results on high resolution LIDAR data. This model was tested and compared with a model from FMEs built-in function and the model from Lantmäteriet wich are based on triangulation (also proved a good method in previous studies).  The grid created in TerraScan has good properties such as accuracy. The results show that the built-in ArcGIS model is not sufficient for the purposes of the model. Flood mapping requires continuous surfaces and the model lacks large areas of data. However, there are other aspects such as the break lines, these cannot be added to the TerraScan model or in the IDW but in the FME-modeler it is possible. In addition, it is not possible to edit the model that is delivered from Lantmäteriet. If there are outliers in the data, they will have much impact on the result. With a model created from the point cloud it is easy to remove these outliers. Increased resolution gives a quadratic increase in storage space so it is considered important not to use a resolution that is not really necessary.  If the purpose of the analysis requires higher resolution than two meters it is possible to achieve higher accuracy for areas with high point density. The raw data format also provides opportunities to create additional models with other uses, building models or forest inventory application can for example be extracted from the data. If the purpose is that the finished grid model is adequate, there is no direct reason to spend time creating a new model. But for a user with knowledge of laser data structure and processing, creating elevation models from raw LIDAR data could give advantages.

The creation of reliable flood extent maps is becoming an increasingly important question as the  damage  caused by  natural  disasters  is  becoming  more  severe and the frequency of these events is increasing.  By limiting the uncertainty in flood modelling and simplifying the creation of flood extent maps, a more iterative process is made possible. This iterative process could potentially facilitate the development of more reliable emergency plans. The purpose of this report is to describe how water levels, simulated with a hydraulic model in an efficient way, can be processed in ArcGIS to produce flood extent maps. Focus has been placed on the inclusion of flooded areas occurring on the side of the river and the improvement of handling of tributaries. Inundated areas close to a flooded river can occur due to ground water interactions and increased surface runoff being trapped in low-lying points in the terrain. By analysing flood extent maps derived by various methods, a new model was developed in ArcGIS’s ModelBuilder. By viewing the entire river as a coherent unit the model produces flood extent maps with more reliable descriptions regarding connecting tributaries. This new model drastically decreases the need for manual adjustments and the creation of extra polygon shapefiles to constrain the interpolation area.  At the same time, it decreases the computation time due to the fact that it is a “cleaner” model. When applying the model on areas previously mapped using a tool developed at WSP (the KOG-tool) and MIKE 11’s built in tool for mapping of flood extent, it showed a high degree of accuracy. Concerning differences in water levels, the majority of raster values lay within a 0-1-millimetre range. These results imply a high credibility for the developed model. When evaluating the model against empirical flooding data, it showed satisfactory agreement, especially considering   the limited water level data available and the fact that the developed model does not take into consideration interaction with urban infrastructure or potential river blockages. / Efterfrågan av pålitliga översvämningskartor ökar med den ökade frekvensen av översvämningar med betydande negativ påverkan. Genom att minska osäkerheter i översvämningsmodellering och effektivisera genereringen av vattenutbredningskartor tillåts en mer iterativ process som medför mer pålitliga kartor. Syftet med denna rapport har varit att beskriva hur vattennivåer simulerade med hydrauliska modeller effektivt kan bearbetas i ArcGIS för att åstadkomma kartor över översvämningars vattenutbredning. Förbättrad hantering av översvämningsöar och anslutande biflöden har varit fokusområden. Genom att utvärdera och analysera vattenutbredningar genererade med olika verktyg har en modell, SÖK-modellen, utvecklats i ArcGIS:s ModelBuilder. Genom att hantera hela vattendraget som en sammanhängande enhet hanteras anslutande biflöden på ett sätt som leder till mer korrekt beskrivning av vattenutbredning i biflöden. Den framtagna modellen minskar drastiskt behovet av manuella justeringar och skapande av polygoner med syfte att begränsa interpolationsområden samtidigt som beräkningstiden minskas. Användning av modellen på områden karterade med ett av WSP utvecklat verktyg samt med MIKE 11s inbyggda modul för översvämningskartering visar på god överensstämmelse av interpolerade vattennivåer mellan de olika verktygen, de flesta skillnader är i storleksordningen 0-1 millimeter. Detta kombinerat med stora likheter i vattenutbredning mellan de utvärderade verktygen medför att den framtagna modellen anses lika pålitlig som övriga utvärderade verktyg. Vid utvärdering av modellen på en faktisk översvämning påvisades god överensstämmelse med observerad vattenutbredning, speciellt med hänsyn till den begränsade datamängd som funnits tillgänglig samt att den framtagna modellen inte tar hänsyn till interaktioner med urban infrastruktur eller eventuella blockader i vattendraget.