Satellite imagery to rapidly develop maps of historical flood hazard and; current inundated areas over large spatial coverage is indispensable in; supporting situational awareness for improved debris estimation,; transportation impacts and damage assessments. However, how best to; utilize these maps as actionable information during flood disasters and; for flood disaster response assistance is less clear. Furthermore, the; integration of any satellite data from an “untrusted” (non-mandated); source into the operations chain and response protocols of a mandated; agencies such as FEMA, PDC (PDC is already pulling some DFO-DSS layers); or the UN WFP would be a non-trivial procedure. These agencies desire to; prioritize support and resource requirements for community lifelines.; (Safety & Security; Food, Water & Shelter; Health & Medical; Energy; (Power & Fuel); Communications; Transportation; and Hazardous; Materials). The majority of these lifelines can be impacted by floods.; The Global Flood Observatory’s (DFO, University of Colorado Boulder) web; map server and its associated mobile app (DFO-Floods) is a resource for; global extents of floods now delivered as map products via web services.; This flood decision support system (DSS) serves flood maps along with; other trusted geospatial data to the global disaster response community.; However, acceptance of the DFO product line as a trusted information; source requires additional tests to assess its performance in; combination with the respective response process of agencies around the; world. This would allow moving the product from a high Application; Readiness Level into an Operational Readiness Level (ORL) for agency; trusted data implementation. This paper reviews success examples of the; DFO flood layers, illustrates the newly released mobile app and; discusses the need for trusted flood map products and services to; support the global disaster response community.
