In Mind the Modelling Gap, we explored how the JBA Global Flood Model can provide probabilistically modelled loss results anywhere globally by combining our market-leading 30m Global Flood Map and Global Flood Event Set with new JBA FLY Technology. But what is FLY Technology?
FLY Technology is JBA’s revolutionary new analysis engine, implementing JBA’s core catastrophe analysis methods. It is a set of software components that intersects exposure data with model data – flood mapping, defended areas, event set and vulnerability functions – to calculate ground-up, location-level event losses.
A FLY model operates directly on data in its raw format. There is no discrete model build phase; instead, a model is built on-the-fly, at analysis time, for the exposure submitted by the user. Because a model only ever exists for the precise geographical locations covered by the exposure, data throughput and therefore processing demands are massively reduced, and the build operation is fast.
Building a model dynamically at analysis time allows us to overcome the challenges in traditional catastrophe models, outlined in our previous blog Catastrophe Models: What we should fix. It means we can give power to the user to decide which model data and build parameter values are used.
The user can replace every input with a different one, simply by pointing a model at another dataset. For example, they could:
Fixed geographical hierarchies are eliminated from the model, meaning disaggregation and reporting can be performed against any spatial data available to the user. The FLY model disaggregates using a random point sampling approach, weighted by a dataset describing exposure density. Using points allows the full resolution of JBA's flood maps to be used, allowing the model to be of equivalent resolution.
FLY model components fit seamlessly within the Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, so a FLY-enabled model is an Oasis-enabled model, supporting standard Oasis interfaces: exposure format (OED), results file formats and the Oasis API, and using the Oasis financial / risk metrics modules. The FLY model itself is agnostic of the platform within which it is hosted.
The elimination of model build as a discrete process allows our models to immediately reflect improvements to data, advances in scientific understanding and lessons learnt from recent events. Model users do this simply by replacing or updating the datasets to which the FLY model points.
Through FLY Technology, catastrophe models can be customised in unprecedented ways and are capable of coping with data on a revolutionary scale, making possible the development of the first Global Flood Model.
For more information on the Global Flood Model or FLY Technology, or to request a test and evaluation, get in touch.
