Project partners (PPs) first cooperate to develop requirements for harmonised data, modelling and processing. The harmonisation actions are being focused on quality management mainly. The bottom line is that the river shall be conceived like a system which does not respect any border. Flood risk management has to be one piece of this puzzle.
Still many different national requirements exist and each region could provide a different background. Hence the harmonisation work package starts from specification of the goals and tackles some technical questions referring to the scenario definitions, methods used, accuracy threashold and so forth. Basis for the harmonized product description are the national laws of the project members, the EU Flood Directive and good practice from different projects (Eximap, Flapp, Floodsite, RiskEOS), and existing map atlas (Rhine, Odra and Elbe). Common interpretation of the EU flood directive is one result, input for WPs 5 and 6 the others.

act. 3.1. Harmonisation and joint definition of requirements (content and use of the final map products); collection of requirements, discussion, decision. Harmonisation is needed regarding different nations and also regarding different user groups: e.g. water management and flood protection, flood forecast, local and regional planning, rescue services, general public, insurances.

act. 3.2. Harmonisation of data. Data are the heart of the risk management process. Inconsistencies or quality deficits effect insufficient results. partners define harmonised profiles for: formats (GIS), quality (resolution, accuracy, up-to-datedness), meta data (minimum content), projection and height system (concerning DTM and cross section data; conform to the European geodetic harmonisation process).

act. 3.3. Harmonisation of methods for processing. Methods of the processing of data predetermine quality of results. The PP define the criteria. The application of different methods might be appropriate if carefully assessed. The harmonisation of methods covers: quality management, damage assessment, modelling techniques and model border conditions, scenario definition and simulation methods.

act. 3.4. Harmonisation of results: The goal is to provide maps in high resolution + uniform GIS format. The standards will be defined by the PP. The results will be mainly presented in different map products (printed, digital and web based) also for the cartography standards need to be defined due to the user needs: map content, units used, legend classes, symbols + colours, languages, coordinate systems.

act. 3.5. Coordination of single PP activities in action 3.1-3.4, collection of the inputs. Establishment of an harmonization manual / guide summarizing the work out of the working package (requirements, data management methods, presentation). Meetings of the scientific working group on harmonisation (WG HARM). These meetings will be used to work on the different sections of a harmonization manual / guide.