GIFIS: A Generalized Immersive Flood Information System Specification

This study introduces Generalized Immersive Flood Information Specification (GIFIS), a vendor-agnostic, JSON Schema–based framework for encoding, validating, and exchanging hydrologic and environmental data for reproducible and interoperable virtual and augmented reality applications. By defining standardized semantics for entities such as sensor datasets, hydrological model outputs, warnings and alerts, and infrastructure assets, along with portable document types for spatial anchoring, scene composition, and evidence packaging, GIFIS transforms interoperability into a verifiable property of the data itself. A built-in validator enforces conformance through rule codes and machine-readable diagnostics, ensuring that information published once can be deterministically interpreted across analytical, operational, and immersive environments. Through its schema-centric and engine-neutral design, GIFIS enables any client to load and interpret hydrologic information without reliance on proprietary rendering pipelines or manual data harmonization for immersive platforms and applications. By coupling semantic rigor with open governance and extensibility, GIFIS establishes a sustainable foundation for transparent, FAIR-compliant flood information systems that bridge scientific research, operational decision support, and public communication.