Published on
04/08/2010 16:26
ISIS v3.4 (ISIS Free, ISIS Professional, ISIS 2D and ISIS Mapper) has just been released.
The latest release of ISIS provides users with a range of improvements and new features, particularly within a completely refreshed ISIS Mapper. New features and improvements include:
- Improved mapping resolution within ISIS Mapper
- FRQSIM hydrological boundary unit
- Bridge property calculator, for improved transparency of bridge afflux calculations
- Improved stability in culvert units
- Double precision version for improved mass balance and TUFLOW compatibility
- Bookmarking facility for ease of navigation of user interface
- Enhanced output facilities in ISIS 2D, including hazard mapping and flow line output
All of these improvements and new features have been developed in response to users’ needs. If you would like to help shape the future development of ISIS, please visit the Ideas Lab on the ISIS User Community website and suggest your own ideas!
ISIS users with a valid support and maintenance contract can download ISIS v3.4 from the ISIS User website. Alternatively, ISIS Free, which is limited to 250 1D nodes and 2,500 2D cells, can be downloaded at no cost and is available to use for both commercial and non-commercial projects.
For more information on ISIS v3.4, visit our website or contact Vijay Jain, ISIS and TUFLOW Sales and Marketing Manager on +44 (0)845 094 7990 or at isis@halcrow.com.
Published on
04/08/2010 16:21
Click here to view the latest edition of the ISIS newsletter. It contains details of the latest release of ISIS, details of the successful ISIS 2D Webex session, the forthcoming 2010 user conference and a case study on real-time flood forecasting for the Mersey Estuary.
Published on
03/08/2010 14:47
On Wednesday 21st July, Dr. Matt Horritt ran an ISIS 2D online demonstration where approximately 100 people attended in order to get a better understanding of Halcrow’s 2D software and to see how it compares to other industry modelling packages. If you were unable to attend the WebEx and would like to view it, click on the image below.
Click the image to display a player with the video.
Published on
25/06/2010 12:53
Click here to view the latest edition of the ISIS newsletter. It contains a preview of ISIS Fast, news on the forthcoming release of ISIS, information of an online WebEx of ISIS 2D and much more.
Published on
20/05/2010 14:04
The Environment Agency has purchased through Halcrow an enterprise licence of TUFLOW flood and coastal inundation modelling software along with the ISIS-TUFLOW link module. As part of the software package, ISIS 2D modelling software is also being provided to the Environment Agency. This significant improvement in the standard software available to Environment Agency staff will provide easy access to both 2D models and also to run linked 1D-2D models (either ISIS to TUFLOW or ISIS to ISIS 2D).
The purchase is one of the actions that the Environment Agency is undertaking under their new Flood and Coastal Risk Management Modelling Strategy. The Strategy is driving improvements in the understanding of flood and coastal risk thus enabling flood risk to be better communicated and managed.
Vijay Jain, ISIS and TUFLOW Sales and Marketing Manager at Halcrow said that “we are pleased to see TUFLOW and ISIS 2D being adopted as standard tools by the Environment Agency. This will provide them with a lot of flexibility in the way that they carry out their flood risk modelling and mapping work.
Halcrow is the UK-based agent for Australian software TUFLOW. By purchasing TUFLOW software and support through Halcrow, clients have access to a UK based technical support team as well as dynamic linking to Halcrow's ISIS software.
Dr. Jon Wicks, ISIS and TUFLOW Director at Halcrow, stated "with our TUFLOW and ISIS technical support teams being based in the UK, it allows Halcrow to provide excellent, rapid support to clients such as the Environment Agency".
A standalone TUFLOW or ISIS 2D license can be purchased for under £5,000 and there is currently a significant introductory discount available for ISIS 2D. More information about ISIS and TUFLOW software can be found at www.halcrow.com/software.
Published on
25/03/2010 14:03
Halcrow's ISIS team regularly visits universities throughout the UK and across the world to present ISIS to its students and lecturers.
Luke Lovell, a Hydrologist and Market Sector Manager at Halcrow recently gave a lecture to students of the MSc Water Management course at Cranfield University. The lecture was based on the practical application of ISIS in flood risk management and provided a general introduction of the functionality and the abilities of ISIS. The presentation touched upon two of Luke’s projects: Thames Estuary 2100 and the Lower Thames Flood Risk Management Strategy.
The presentation was well received and there were many questions including some relating to the "e-Learning River Hydraulics with ISIS" material located at the ISIS User Community Website. The main aim of this e-Learning material is to help students learn the principles of river hydraulics and illustrate these principles by using the industry leading software package ISIS.
Konstantin Vasilyev, a Graduate Engineer at Halcrow who is also part of the ISIS Development and Support team, recently presented ISIS to the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis in Nice, France. The presentation was delivered to students of the European EuroAquae MSc course and was attended by two of the founding fathers of computational hydraulics Jean Cunge (former of Sogreah, France) and Forrest Holly (University of Iowa, USA).
At the end of the presentation, Konstantin took lots of theoretical questions about the way ISIS treats various river structures and flow conditions. More practical questions were asked throughout the second day which Kostya spent in the university helping the students build ISIS models of the river Var in Nice.
The students were happy to be able to compare the results provided by ISIS and another piece of industry software. Despite the fact that different numerical schemes are used in different packages, both software packages predicted the peak flows using the November 1994 flood data with the same level of accuracy. However, Konstantin heard positive comments from the students that the ISIS model was easier to manipulate.
These two presentations are examples of our initiative to support the use of ISIS in universities. If you have any queries about the use of ISIS or would like support in the use of ISIS at an academic institution, please contact Konstantin Vasilyev at isis@halcrow.com or visit www.isisuser.com.
Published on
08/03/2010 14:01
Flood mapping using GIS applications plays a key role in calculating and communicating flood risk information. In less than two decades the technology has moved from manual drawing to a sophisticated and automated process in which modelling and mapping are integrated. In this article Rahman Khatibi outlines the evolution of integrated flood modelling and mapping, highlighting some of the opportunities and barriers to further progress.
To find out more, download the full article which was recently published in GeoConnexion.
GeoConnexionUK Magazine covers news, features devoted to the UK's GI industry. Its special focus is on E-Government, Health, Public Safety, Retail, Environmental, Utilities, Surveying, Location-Based Services, Transport/Logistics and Telecommunications.
Geo:connexion International Magazine is the leading business-to-business monthly magazine for users of all spatial technologies globally, especially within the British Isles, continental Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North USA and beyond.
www.geoconnexion.com is the comprehensive web site with daily news updates, articles, global Directory of geospatial companies, live reader polls and much more: http://www.geoconnexion.com.
To find out more, download the full article which was recently published in GeoConnexion.
GeoConnexionUK Magazine covers news, features devoted to the UK's GI industry. Its special focus is on E-Government, Health, Public Safety, Retail, Environmental, Utilities, Surveying, Location-Based Services, Transport/Logistics and Telecommunications.
Geo:connexion International Magazine is the leading business-to-business monthly magazine for users of all spatial technologies globally, especially within the British Isles, continental Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North USA and beyond.
www.geoconnexion.com is the comprehensive web site with daily news updates, articles, global Directory of geospatial companies, live reader polls and much more: http://www.geoconnexion.com.
Published on
11/02/2010 14:00
Click here to view the latest edition of the ISIS newsletter. It contains hints and tips when using ISIS, a 10% discount voucher, a GeoConnexion article on flood mapping and modelling and much more.
Published on
11/02/2010 14:00
ISIS by Halcrow is now on Facebook allowing ISIS users to follow updates, improvements and new features within the ISIS suite of products. We currently have just over 60 people listed as following the page which can be viewed here. Why not join today and invite your friends and colleagues in the river modelling/engineering community? You can do this by clicking on the “Suggest to Friends” button in the top left corner of the ISIS by Halcrow page on Facebook.
Published on
04/01/2010 13:59
Not only do ISIS users gain valuable information when using the ISIS user website, but for every contribution made to the site, a donation is made to WaterAid and the Halcrow Foundation. Users gain points by visiting pages on the ISIS user website, posting on the forum, commenting on items, posting and voting on ideas and downloading ISIS Free.
At the end of 2009, these points were converted into a donation of £313.37 and split between these two extremely worthwhile charities. For more information, click here.
For those of you who have not registered with the website yet, isisuser.com is the online community for ISIS users. It aims to give users quick and easy access to ISIS-related information. Why not sign up today?
Published on
02/11/2009 13:58
ISIS v3.3 (ISIS Professional, ISIS Mapper and ISIS 2D) has just been released. The latest release of ISIS provides users with a a range of important improvements and new features including:
- Full integration with TUFLOW 2009 builds, including TUFLOW Double Precision module
- Usability and productivity tools, including the model health checker and results harvester
- Speed improvements for ISIS 2D, including a parallelised version of the ADI solver
- Enhanced usability for ISIS Mapper, including improved zoom and pan facilities
- Deactivated floodplain areas for river sections
- Minimum flow option for QTBDY units
- OpenMI compatibility for ISIS 2D
All of these improvements and new features have been developed in response to users needs. If you would like to help shape the future development of ISIS, please visit the Ideas Lab on the ISIS User Community website and suggest your own ideas!
ISIS users with a valid support and maintenance contract can download ISIS v3.3 from the ISIS User website. Alternatively, ISIS Free which is limited to 250 1D nodes and 2,500 2D cells can be downloaded at no cost and is available to use for both commercial and non-commercial projects.
For more information on ISIS v3.3, contact Vijay Jain, ISIS and TUFLOW Sales and Marketing Manager on 0845 094 7990.
Published on
13/10/2009 13:56
Following a string of successful user meetings, Halcrow will be holding the 2009 ISIS User Conference on Wednesday 11th November at Arup’s office in Bristol.
The ISIS User Conference in association with Arup and Edenvale Young is free to organisations with a valid ISIS support and maintenance contract and to all academic staff and students.
The last conference in December 2008 attracted almost 100 attendees from local authorities, drainage boards, universities, numerous engineering consultants and the Environment Agency. The user meeting includes popular and informative sessions that are independently chaired by Chris Whitlow from Edenvale Young.
By attending the meeting, you will be able to:
- Hear the Environment Agency present their new modelling strategy
- Find out about the latest release of ISIS (v3.3 to be released in October 2009)
- Attend an open forum on how ISIS can be further developed
- Discuss 2D modelling including the differences between ISIS 2D and TUFLOW
- Network with fellow modellers in the industry (the evening before and on the day)
- Learn from the experiences of other modellers who will be presenting case studies on how they have used ISIS in the past
The ISIS User Conference will focus on the release of ISIS v3.3 and will allow Halcrow to highlight new features within ISIS and to receive early feedback from users of the software.
An informal networking event (venue TBC) will be held the evening before the user meeting where anybody attending the meeting can attend.
Advanced booking is essential as places are limited.
Book your place now!
To secure your place at our next meeting, please complete the booking form and return it to Leanne Chesters at leanne.chesters@edenvaleyoung.com. For any additional information, please feel free to contact Leanne on 0117 910 5200.
Venue details: Arup, 63 St. Thomas Street, Bristol, BS1 6JZ.
Published on
06/07/2009 13:54
On 30th June ISIS 2D was released. It is a fully hydrodynamic computational engine designed to work either standalone or within the ISIS suite of products. ISIS 2D enables dynamic interaction between ISIS Professional (1D) and ISIS 2D and is the latest addition to the ISIS by Halcrow suite of products. It has been developed to complement the capabilities of WBM’s 2D modelling software; TUFLOW, allowing you to purchase both ISIS 2D and TUFLOW from Halcrow.
The key features of ISIS 2D include:
- Choice of ADI (Alternating Direction Implicit) or TVD (Total Variation Diminishing) solvers
- TVD Solver allows complex hydraulics to be calculated more accurately, especially useful when considering dam breaks, breaches in defences or rapid flow around buildings
- Increased stability as TVD solutions are less prone to numerical oscillations than other solvers
- ISIS 2D ADI and TVD engines have a strong scientific background, based on DIVAST • ADI solver has been in development for 20+ years
- Models surface water flooding using direct rainfall boundaries
- Licensing is linked with the ISIS Professional making it more efficient
- Input files use open, standard formats: XML, shapefile, ascii raster
- Flexibility to use any GIS system (and ISIS Mapper) to generate input files
- Streamlined model build in ISIS Mapper meaning no extra software is required to build your model
- Dynamic, mass conservative 1D-2D linking with the ISIS 1D engine
For more information about ISIS 2D visit our website, download the ISIS 2D leaflet or contact the ISIS technical team at isis@halcrow.com.
ISIS Free with 2D capabilities and extra nodes
ISIS Free is ideal for smaller studies, SWMPs and flood risk assessments. The latest release of ISIS Free has all of the same features as ISIS Professional and ISIS 2D but is limited to 250 1D nodes, 2,500 2D cells and has a 10mb restriction on ISIS Mapper input files.
Click here to download ISIS Free.
Published on
06/07/2009 13:49
ISIS v3.3 is due to be released later this year with many new features and improvements which have been developed in response to user needs. These will include:
- Speed improvements, phase 2
- Implement OpenMI in ISIS2D
- Improve culvert stability (e.g. zero flow, Preissmann slots - top and bottom)
- Add ability to deactivate regions of an extended river cross section (e.g. floodplain)
- ISIS model health check
- ISIS post-processing "harvester"
- Add Parker equation to ISIS Sediment
- Implement double precision TUFLOW compatible version of ISIS
- Example files modernisation
If you would like to help shape the future development of ISIS, please visit the Ideas Lab on our user community website.
Published on
15/06/2009 14:26
There is an update to ISIS v3.1 (hotfix v3.1.1) which is now available to download. This is a self-extracting zip file, which will overwrite the relevant files in your isis\bin folders. This fix addresses the following issues:
- Remote desktop support for dongles enabled for ISIS-TUFLOW runs.
- Blockage unit now runs in Direct (Steady) Method
- CES Section incompatibility problem resolved.
- Rule number output to supplementary results file (*.zzx) when rules evaluated after the last iteration of a timestep.
- Upper bound removed from orifice discharge coefficient in bridge units.
- USBPR pier data error resolved.
- Culvert Inlet unit input value look-up table in Help file restored.
Published on
15/06/2009 14:19
ISIS has become the chosen modelling software for a number of government agencies throughout the world.
The Office of Public Works (OPW), the lead agency for flood risk management in Ireland has recently purchased a number of ISIS licences helping them to combat existing and future flood risk issues throughout Ireland. In addition to purchasing ISIS, the OPW also purchased TUFLOW - flood and tidal simulation software - from Halcrow as agent for BMT WBM's software.
The OPW leads the co-ordination and implementation of the government's policy on the management of flood risk in Ireland with a number of important roles such as co-ordinating activities of government departments, local authorities and other bodies.
In addition, the Environment Agency, the leading public body for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales and Scotland's environmental regulator, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have also renewed their ISIS support and maintenance.
A number of government agencies outside of the UK and Ireland have also purchased ISIS including the Mekong River Commission Secretariat which was formed by the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
Vijay Jain, ISIS Sales and Marketing Manager said:
"Halcrow's flexible licensing and pricing structures allows ISIS to stand out from its competitors and demonstrates the appeal of the software's innovative features to both government bodies and river engineering consultants"
The Office of Public Works (OPW), the lead agency for flood risk management in Ireland has recently purchased a number of ISIS licences helping them to combat existing and future flood risk issues throughout Ireland. In addition to purchasing ISIS, the OPW also purchased TUFLOW - flood and tidal simulation software - from Halcrow as agent for BMT WBM's software.
The OPW leads the co-ordination and implementation of the government's policy on the management of flood risk in Ireland with a number of important roles such as co-ordinating activities of government departments, local authorities and other bodies.
In addition, the Environment Agency, the leading public body for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales and Scotland's environmental regulator, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have also renewed their ISIS support and maintenance.
A number of government agencies outside of the UK and Ireland have also purchased ISIS including the Mekong River Commission Secretariat which was formed by the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
Vijay Jain, ISIS Sales and Marketing Manager said:
"Halcrow's flexible licensing and pricing structures allows ISIS to stand out from its competitors and demonstrates the appeal of the software's innovative features to both government bodies and river engineering consultants"
Published on
06/03/2009 10:09
Some users may have recently received spam emails, claiming that the person had got your email address from isisuser.com. The spam email was a malicious attempt on users of the site, as the email addresses were only available to logged in users.
We would like to assure you that we take these incidents seriously and we have taken action to prevent this from happening again. We have:
We would like to assure you that we take these incidents seriously and we have taken action to prevent this from happening again. We have:
- removed the offending user from the site and blocked the email address used
- removed the display of email addresses from the site
- installed tracking to the backend of the site to enable us to take action against any further malicious attempts
Published on
23/01/2009 15:31
isisuser.com was launched in June 2008 and provides users with manuals, support forums, knowledge bases, downloads and other useful information.
January 2009 saw the 1,000th user register with the website. We believe that this is a significant milestone for both ISIS and its online community. In addition to this milestone, ISIS users have donated over £850 to WaterAid and the Halcrow Foundation by interacting with the website.
By providing the website, users are not only able to download new versions of the software or find solutions to their problems, but are able to suggest new ideas with regards to what they would like to see implemented in future releases of the software. This allows users to be closer to the development of ISIS, going forward, as we believe that the best way for Halcrow to develop ISIS is to understand our customers' needs.
Please contribute to the success of the website by visiting the forums and ideas lab. Additionally, if you feel that something could be improved on the site, please contact Halcrow directly.
January 2009 saw the 1,000th user register with the website. We believe that this is a significant milestone for both ISIS and its online community. In addition to this milestone, ISIS users have donated over £850 to WaterAid and the Halcrow Foundation by interacting with the website.
By providing the website, users are not only able to download new versions of the software or find solutions to their problems, but are able to suggest new ideas with regards to what they would like to see implemented in future releases of the software. This allows users to be closer to the development of ISIS, going forward, as we believe that the best way for Halcrow to develop ISIS is to understand our customers' needs.
Please contribute to the success of the website by visiting the forums and ideas lab. Additionally, if you feel that something could be improved on the site, please contact Halcrow directly.
Published on
23/01/2009 15:27
In June 2008 Halcrow announced the launch of isisuser.com, the online support community for ISIS users. isisuser.com provides updated manuals and frequently asked questions, forums to discuss ideas with other users, a downloads area for the latest version of ISIS and blogs on ISIS development and support activity. It also contains an area where users are able to suggest and vote on features which they would like to see implemented within future releases of the software.
The ISIS user website has received a lot of interest and has over 1,000 registered users and over 10,000 visitors. The website contains a vast repository of information and this helps us to streamline our support to users.
To encourage the use of the website, every user interaction throughout 2008 generated a point. Users generated these points by posting questions on the forum, suggesting or voting on ideas in the ideas lab, commenting on the news stream or tip of the month and by downloading the latest version of ISIS.
At the end of the year, Halcrow converted these points into a monetary sum and will be donating to WaterAid and the Halcrow Foundation.
Since this is the first year of the ISIS user community website, Jon Wicks, ISIS Director, has doubled the donation to these two worthwhile charities allowing us to donate a total of £852.30!
The ISIS user website has received a lot of interest and has over 1,000 registered users and over 10,000 visitors. The website contains a vast repository of information and this helps us to streamline our support to users.
To encourage the use of the website, every user interaction throughout 2008 generated a point. Users generated these points by posting questions on the forum, suggesting or voting on ideas in the ideas lab, commenting on the news stream or tip of the month and by downloading the latest version of ISIS.
At the end of the year, Halcrow converted these points into a monetary sum and will be donating to WaterAid and the Halcrow Foundation.
Since this is the first year of the ISIS user community website, Jon Wicks, ISIS Director, has doubled the donation to these two worthwhile charities allowing us to donate a total of £852.30!
Published on
08/01/2009 09:59
Since December 2008, Halcrow's ISIS Professional and ISIS Free software has been registered on the official list of OpenMI compliant software.
OpenMI standard is a software component interface definition for the computational core (the engine) of the computational models in the water domain. Model components that comply with this standard can, without any programming, be configured to exchange data during computation (at run-time). This means that combined systems can be created, based on OpenMI-compliant models from different providers, thus enabling the modeller to use those models that are best suited to a particular project.
The standard supports two-way links where the involved models mutually depend on calculation results from each other. Linked models may run asynchronously with respect to timesteps, and data represented on different geometries (grids) can be exchanged seamlessly.
There are a number of reasons why ISIS being OpenMI compliant may be beneficial to your project:
OpenMI standard is a software component interface definition for the computational core (the engine) of the computational models in the water domain. Model components that comply with this standard can, without any programming, be configured to exchange data during computation (at run-time). This means that combined systems can be created, based on OpenMI-compliant models from different providers, thus enabling the modeller to use those models that are best suited to a particular project.
The standard supports two-way links where the involved models mutually depend on calculation results from each other. Linked models may run asynchronously with respect to timesteps, and data represented on different geometries (grids) can be exchanged seamlessly.
There are a number of reasons why ISIS being OpenMI compliant may be beneficial to your project:
- There is no need to develop an internal project standard - a costly and time-consuming process.
- The OpenMI is supported by a range of tools for making models linkable and then linking and running them.
- You will receive the benefit of the massive investment in developing the OpenMI
- You will be able to link to other existing OpenMI-compliant models. There is a fast growing list of such models.
- Models developed within your project may be more easily re-used once the project is completed.
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