Cartographic Assessment of Water-Related Risks in Croatia

Floods are among the most damaging natural hazards in Europe and Croatia, with direct impacts on people, infrastructure, economic activity and the environment. Their importance is increasing as climate change strengthens the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events and as urban development expands the number of exposed assets. This paper presents a geodetic and GIS-based framework for assessing and mapping water-related risks in Croatia within the KARVAQUR project. The approach follows the widely used risk concept in which overall risk results from the interaction of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Global water-risk indicators available through the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas are combined with national geospatial datasets of higher spatial resolution, including digital elevation models, LiDAR point clouds, hydrological and meteorological observations, land-use data, infrastructure records, population indicators and Copernicus products. The data are harmonised in a GIS environment and analysed through spatial overlay, raster modelling and multi-criteria evaluation. The expected outputs are consistent maps of flood hazard, exposure, vulnerability and total risk, intended to support spatial planning, water management and civil-protection activities. The paper shows that geodesy, geoinformatics and cartography provide the data, methods and visualisation capacity needed to translate complex environmental information into practical decision-support products. Geodesy has one of central roles in this process.