WMS:Creating Watershed Models

With an ever-increasing availability of GIS and other digital data, delineated stream networks and basin boundaries for a given watershed may already exist. In order to take advantage of this type data when available, WMS allows hydrologic models to be built directly from three different features of the map module: polygons representing basin boundaries, arcs representing a stream network, and nodes representing watershed and sub-basin outlet points.

This means that data imported from an ArcView® shapefile can be used directly to set up the hydrologic model. Further, since attributes from the shapefiles can also be read in, much of the hydrologic data developed with the GIS tool can be used to define input parameters of the given hydrologic model. It also means that a tiff image map or other data can be used to establish the boundaries of the watershed at the proper scale so that lengths and areas determined from the feature objects are correct, or simply used as a scaled schematic representation of the watershed (in such cases area and length values would have to be determined by some other means and defined in appropriate dialogs prior to running one of the supported hydrologic models).

Related Topics

• Feature Objects
• Feature Object Guidelines
• Drainage Coverage
• Shapefiles