Feature overview

Feature overview per disaster-type

This pages aims to give an overview of IBF features, especially focused on features that currently differ between disaster-types. There can be various reasons for this.

• Most importantly, in IBF often new features are not immediately implemented IBF-wide, but for some disaster-type(s) first. The goal is in these cases to align other disaster types to this new standard over time. These features are primarily listed in this overview.
• In some cases a feature is really not applicable for some reason to all disaster-types. These are in principle not listed here.

NOTE: this page is not complete, and is updated on-the-go.

Features per disaster-type

Features	Floods	Flash-floods	Drought	Typhoon	Malaria	Heavy rain
1. Events	v	v	v	v	1/2*
2. Flexible lead times	v	v	v	v
3. Event areas		v
4. Breadcrumbs	v	v				v
5. Non-interactive timeline	v	v

Feature explanation

1. Events: Forecast data is grouped into separate events which cover separate parts of the country, and can have different lead times and different severity levels.

• • In malaria events are currently used, but not in the way they should. Simply a separate event is uploaded for each pre-defined month (0-month/1-month/2-month). Each month covers the whole country instead of a relevant subpart. Events are not uploaded for a calculated lead time, but instead separately for each lead time.

2. Flexible lead times: Whereas IBF started out as giving off forecasts for one or more fixed lead times only (in line with the EAP), it has now largely evolved to flexible lead times. Any forecast within a specified timeframe can lead to a trigger or warning, also if shorter or longer than the EAP-agreed lead time.

• This feature largely aligns in terms of implementation with Events.

3. Event areas: In Event view the event area is depicted via one polygon, instead of via all admin-areas (on default admin level) that are part of that event.

• In flash-floods the event-area is defined as the parent-admin-area.
• For floods, drought the intention would be to define the polygon in pipeline as the union shape of all event admin-areas (on default admin level).
• For typhoon an additional complication is that event-areas can overlap geographically.

4. Breadcrumbs: Indicates whether the portal is navigated through breadcrumbs, as indicated by buttons in the top left of the map.

• The portal opens on National View with an overview of events in map (but also in chat section), identified by a 'National view' breadcrumb in the map.
• These events are ideally shown in the map as event areas (see feature 3. Event areas), but otherwise as separate admin-areas within each event.
• Subsequently you can zoom in to event-level either via map or chat, which will result in an event breadcrumb being added.
• Subsequently you can zoom in to admin-area-level, by selecting one admin-area of the event, resulting in yet another breadcrumb being added.
• If the specific implementation is multi-admin-level, you can zoom in to even deeper admin-levels, reflected by additional breadcrumbs.
• If a disaster-type does not have breadcrumbs implemented, instead always all admin-levels of the country will be shown, but only the "active" admin-levels will be be enabled/clickable.
• NOTE: to implement breadcrumbs for drought/typhoon, first 'event areas' must be implemented. Additionally, because evnets can overlap geographically, it must be made possible to show overlapping event-areas. (Or als alternative: skip National View, and open on 1st event.)

5. Non-interactive timeline: Timeline buttons are not clickable. Originally, the timeline was used to switch between different lead-times and/or events.

• Now that IBF is (almost) exclusively event-based, there is no need to switch between lead-times anymore, as there is only one lead-time per event.
• And switching between events can already be done via the chat-section and via the map (i.c.w. breadcrumbs).