| Session Details | |
| Section | HS - Hydrological Sciences |
| Session Title | Hydroinformatics |
| Main Convener | Prof. Vladan Babovic (National University Singapore, Singapore) |
| Co-convener(s) | |
| Session Description | The role of the engineer in management of water resources is changing. The role of state-of-the art technology in integrated water management systems and engineering is the foundation for successful efficient water management in the future, even for most underdeveloped countries. The information revolution of the last 40 years has fundamentally altered the traditional planning, modelling and decision making methodologies of the water related sciences and technologies. Information and communication technology (ICT) now plays an essential role in the sustainable development of water resources and responsible management of the aquatic environment. The general availability of sophisticated computers with ever-expanding capabilities has given rise to an increasing complexity in terms of computational ability in the storage, retrieval and manipulation of information flows. Following closely upon this, the revolution in the transport and distribution of data and knowledge over communication networks, such as the Internet, is changing our whole approach to impact assessment and decision-making. Hydroinformatics draws upon such a range of enabling technologies that it is impractical to enumerate these here. It does not remain limited to the fields of water-related sciences alone, but has recourse to the latest ICT developments in the fields of artificial intelligence (including knowledge-based systems, machine learning, evolutionary algorithms, artificial neural networks, support vector machine, chaos theory, etc. etc.), artificial life, cellular and finite state automata and other, previously unrelated sciences and technologies. Hydroinformatics is by definition an interdisciplinary field that brings together researchers and practitioners from a variety of fields. |