• IberGIS represents a major step forward in hydrological simulation by integrating the capabilities of Iber and QGIS within a single environment, while incorporating high-performance computing to produce more realistic models in less time

• The new software was presented at CITIC of the University of A Coruña to an audience of more than sixty professionals from public administration, industry, and academia, showcasing its practical applications in drainage network planning and flood risk reduction.

A Coruña, 24 September 2025.- Developed by the Water and Environmental Engineering Group (GEAMA) at UDC, IberGIS is a free hydrological simulation tool that combines precision, realism, and computational efficiency to support water analysis and management in both urban and rural environments.

Built under the DRAIN (Digital RAIN – An Integrated Urban Drainage Model) project, the tool merges the power of the two-dimensional Iber numerical model with the functionalities of the QGIS Geographic Information System. This integration enables detailed hydrological and hydrodynamic analyses of surface flows at the catchment scale — across both urban and rural settings — leveraging Iber’s robust computational engine and QGIS’s geoprocessing and visualisation capabilities.

By coupling the computational engines of Iber and SWMM, IberGIS allows the generation of dual urban drainage models that incorporate sewer networks. This results in more realistic simulations and supports more effective planning of drainage system designs, stormwater management, and flood risk mitigation in urban areas. Furthermore, the implementation of high-performance computing techniques significantly reduces simulation times and enables high-resolution analyses to be performed within operational timeframes. The tool will be available as a QGIS plugin.

The public launch, held today in the CITIC Cloud Room and at the School of Civil Engineering of the University of A Coruña, brings together over 60 professionals from companies, public water management bodies, universities, and research centres specialising in hydraulic modelling. The event includes real-world case studies, demonstrations of the tool’s current capabilities, and discussions on future development possibilities.

Tomorrow, 25 September, the event will conclude with a strategic meeting among the developers of the Iber model (https://www.iberaula.es/), where new functionalities, potential collaborations, and funding strategies — both national and international — will be explored.

This work was carried out within the framework of the project “DRAIN – Digital RAIN. An Integrated Urban Drainage Model” (CPP2021-008756), funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union through NextGenerationEU/PRTR.