The Machine Learning-Based Mapping of Urban Pluvial Flood Susceptibility in Seoul Integrating Flood Conditioning Factors and Drainage-Related Data

In the last two decades, South Korea has seen an increase in extreme rainfall coinciding with the proliferation of impermeable surfaces due to urban development. When underground drainage systems are overwhelmed, pluvial flooding can occur. Therefore, recognizing drainage systems as key flood-condit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Julieber T. Bersabe, Byong-Woon Jun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/14/2/57
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850082105070977024
author Julieber T. Bersabe
Byong-Woon Jun
author_facet Julieber T. Bersabe
Byong-Woon Jun
author_sort Julieber T. Bersabe
collection DOAJ
description In the last two decades, South Korea has seen an increase in extreme rainfall coinciding with the proliferation of impermeable surfaces due to urban development. When underground drainage systems are overwhelmed, pluvial flooding can occur. Therefore, recognizing drainage systems as key flood-conditioning factors is vital for identifying flood-prone areas and developing predictive models in highly urbanized regions. This study evaluates and maps urban pluvial flood susceptibility in Seoul, South Korea using the machine learning techniques such as logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machines (SVM), and integrating traditional flood conditioning factors and drainage-related data. Together with known flooding points from 2010 to 2022, sixteen flood conditioning factors were selected, including the drainage-related parameters sewer pipe density (SPD) and distance to a storm drain (DSD). The RF model performed best (accuracy: 0.837, an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC): 0.902), and indicated that 32.65% of the study area has a high susceptibility to flooding. The accuracy and AUC were improved by 7.58% and 3.80%, respectively, after including the two drainage-related variables in the model. This research provides valuable insights for urban flood management, highlighting the primary causes of flooding in Seoul and identifying areas with heightened flood susceptibility, particularly relating to drainage infrastructure.
format Article
id doaj-art-5be7c4ca67ce49bbab8509257ebf4db3
institution DOAJ
issn 2220-9964
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
spelling doaj-art-5be7c4ca67ce49bbab8509257ebf4db32025-08-20T02:44:35ZengMDPI AGISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information2220-99642025-02-011425710.3390/ijgi14020057The Machine Learning-Based Mapping of Urban Pluvial Flood Susceptibility in Seoul Integrating Flood Conditioning Factors and Drainage-Related DataJulieber T. Bersabe0Byong-Woon Jun1Department of Geography, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Geography, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of KoreaIn the last two decades, South Korea has seen an increase in extreme rainfall coinciding with the proliferation of impermeable surfaces due to urban development. When underground drainage systems are overwhelmed, pluvial flooding can occur. Therefore, recognizing drainage systems as key flood-conditioning factors is vital for identifying flood-prone areas and developing predictive models in highly urbanized regions. This study evaluates and maps urban pluvial flood susceptibility in Seoul, South Korea using the machine learning techniques such as logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machines (SVM), and integrating traditional flood conditioning factors and drainage-related data. Together with known flooding points from 2010 to 2022, sixteen flood conditioning factors were selected, including the drainage-related parameters sewer pipe density (SPD) and distance to a storm drain (DSD). The RF model performed best (accuracy: 0.837, an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC): 0.902), and indicated that 32.65% of the study area has a high susceptibility to flooding. The accuracy and AUC were improved by 7.58% and 3.80%, respectively, after including the two drainage-related variables in the model. This research provides valuable insights for urban flood management, highlighting the primary causes of flooding in Seoul and identifying areas with heightened flood susceptibility, particularly relating to drainage infrastructure.https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/14/2/57urban flood susceptibilitydrainage-related datamachine learningrandom forestsupport vector machineslogistic regression
spellingShingle Julieber T. Bersabe
Byong-Woon Jun
The Machine Learning-Based Mapping of Urban Pluvial Flood Susceptibility in Seoul Integrating Flood Conditioning Factors and Drainage-Related Data
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
urban flood susceptibility
drainage-related data
machine learning
random forest
support vector machines
logistic regression
title The Machine Learning-Based Mapping of Urban Pluvial Flood Susceptibility in Seoul Integrating Flood Conditioning Factors and Drainage-Related Data
title_full The Machine Learning-Based Mapping of Urban Pluvial Flood Susceptibility in Seoul Integrating Flood Conditioning Factors and Drainage-Related Data
title_fullStr The Machine Learning-Based Mapping of Urban Pluvial Flood Susceptibility in Seoul Integrating Flood Conditioning Factors and Drainage-Related Data
title_full_unstemmed The Machine Learning-Based Mapping of Urban Pluvial Flood Susceptibility in Seoul Integrating Flood Conditioning Factors and Drainage-Related Data
title_short The Machine Learning-Based Mapping of Urban Pluvial Flood Susceptibility in Seoul Integrating Flood Conditioning Factors and Drainage-Related Data
title_sort machine learning based mapping of urban pluvial flood susceptibility in seoul integrating flood conditioning factors and drainage related data
topic urban flood susceptibility
drainage-related data
machine learning
random forest
support vector machines
logistic regression
url https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/14/2/57
work_keys_str_mv AT juliebertbersabe themachinelearningbasedmappingofurbanpluvialfloodsusceptibilityinseoulintegratingfloodconditioningfactorsanddrainagerelateddata
AT byongwoonjun themachinelearningbasedmappingofurbanpluvialfloodsusceptibilityinseoulintegratingfloodconditioningfactorsanddrainagerelateddata
AT juliebertbersabe machinelearningbasedmappingofurbanpluvialfloodsusceptibilityinseoulintegratingfloodconditioningfactorsanddrainagerelateddata
AT byongwoonjun machinelearningbasedmappingofurbanpluvialfloodsusceptibilityinseoulintegratingfloodconditioningfactorsanddrainagerelateddata