Flood-Affected Areas from the 2011 La Niña Phenomenon in Colombia

IDEAM provides a map of areas affected by flooding during the 2011 La Niña phenomenon. The dataset includes shapefile geometry and attributes like affected area in hectares. The data is published as raw, unvalidated open data for transparency and risk management support under Colombian law.

Use Cases

• Mapping flood extent using the_geom and EMERGENCIA columns.
• Calculating total affected area by aggregating the AREA_HA column.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of flood impact by joining geometry with administrative boundaries using RULEID.
• Assessing shape complexity or perimeter for affected zones using SHAPE_Length and SHAPE_Area columns.

Strengths

• Includes explicit geospatial geometry (the_geom) for mapping.
• Contains a quantitative area measure (AREA_HA) for analysis.
• Sourced from a national environmental institute (IDEAM) via the official Colombian open data portal.

Limitations

• Data is explicitly unvalidated by IDEAM and may contain errors or inconsistencies.
• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• Update frequency is described as 'eventual' and the last metadata update is far in the future (2026-05-22), suggesting irregular maintenance.

Provenance

Source

Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM) via www.datos.gov.co.

Collection Method

Raw, instantaneous data from automatic station sensors or inter-administrative agreements.

Time Range

2011

Freshness

Update frequency is eventual; last metadata update is 2026-05-22 06:02:31.

Geography

Colombia (implied by source and La Niña context).