using XPSWMM and GIS to create flood maps

[mricks]

I have a XPSWMM model of a downtown watershed which has been calibrated. My next task is to create a flood map. Does anyone have any tips on where to go to get started? How can I export the relevant information from XPSWMM and take it to GIS in a format I can use? Will GIS then be able to help automate the mapping process?

Thanks

 

[francesca]

If you're an Autodesk Subscription customer, Civil 3D 2011 has a SWMM plugin. If not, you need an existing ground surface, an alignment, water elevations (profile) and to push a surface with your CADD software of choice that is level and targets the existing ground. (Think how a highway engineer does tie-in slopes.) Civil 3D and InRoads can do this in a heartbeat. You can export .shp files from Civil 3D (supposedly, though it always crashes for me so I use Map 3D).