WMS:Louisiana DOTD Modeling Overview

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Data Sources for use in WMS

Data Sources

The primary gateway to accessing data for WMS can be found at: http://www.xmswiki.com/ and then go to the GeoSpatial Data Acquisition Page http://www.xmswiki.com/xms/GSDA:GSDA Some of the primary locations there are:

DEMS: http://seamless.usgs.gov/

LandUse: http://www.webgis.com/

Soils: http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov/

Aquaveo: http://www.aquaveo.com/

The LSU site can also be helpful, especially for DRG Images of USGS Maps. To download and use these maps you can:

1. Go the site: http://atlas.lsu.edu/
2. Choose “Download Data”
3. Choose the map scale such as “http://atlas.lsu.edu/q24k/1:24,000 Scanned Topographic Maps”
4. Use the map to navigate to the area you want.
5. Select the map
6. Choose the Download button
7. Unzip the map on your computer
8. Open WMS
9. Right Click in the Project Explorer of WMS
10. Choose Preferences
11. Change the Image options to Always Convert Tiff and to Save the new JPG in the current directory.
12. Open the image.
13. Voila – you have your image in WMS. Repeat for other Quads as necessary.

Louisiana DOTD Models Using the SCS Method

Creating an SCS Project

1. Using the WMS Wizard set the project coordinate system to UTM, NAD83, Zone 15
2. With the Microsoft Virtual Earth Utility identify your study area – make sure it is “bigger” than the study area
3. With Web Services download the DEM (1/3 arc Second recommended) and Topo map (aerial photograph too if you want)
   1. You can try to get the land use and soils data from the web services as well. They are currently on the Aquaveo server and there is not an intent to remove them but not a guarantee the will stay.
   2. You can download the land use file(s) from http://www.webgis.com/
   3. You can ask for the Ssurgo data and get an email with an ftp from: http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov/
   4. Read these shapefiles into WMS and be sure they are converted to the UTM, NAD83, Zone 15 coordinate system
   5. If there are problems with the topo map you can go to http://msrmaps.com/ or to http://atlas.lsu.edu/ and navigate to download the DRG Files
   6. For the DEM you can go to http://seamless.usgs.gov/
4. Delineate the watershed.
   1. Turning on the Create TC Coverage is optional
5. Select the HEC-HMS model (you won’t use this but it will line up best with what you want to do for the SCS method).
6. In the Define Land Use option
   1. Join the Ssurgo attributes tables by right clicking on each Ssurgo shape file and choosing the Join Ssurgo Data option
   2. Back in the wizard Create your Land Use and Soils coverage
7. Under Hydrologic Computations in the Wizard.
   1. Compute GIS Attributes to determine the composite CN
   2. In this you will need to load the standard LADOTD SCS table (the current definition for Residential is for ¼ acre lots, you may want to adjust this value or any other as appropriate).
   3. Compute Basin Data and select the Lag Time – SCS equation.
8. You can set up the Job Control and Precipitation data for an HMS model if you want, but it is not necessary.
9. Clean up the model.
   1. Turn off the Model Checker
10. Exit the wizard and identify the data necessary to run your model.
11. Go into the Display Options under Drainage and turn on the Maximum Flow Distance and Maximum Flow Slope.
12. Save your WMS Project
13. Open the SCSRainfall.jpg file.
14. Run your model with the standard LADOTD program.
    1. http://www.dotd.louisiana.gov/highways/road_design/hydr/

Louisiana DOTD Models Using the USGS Method

USGS Project

1. Using the WMS Wizard set the project coordinate system to UTM, NAD83, Zone 15
2. With the Microsoft Virtual Earth Utility identify your study area – make sure it is "bigger" than the study area
3. With Web Services download the DEM (1 arc Second recommended for larger areas) and Topo map (aerial photograph too if you want)
   1. If there are problems with the topo map you can go to http://msrmaps.com/ or to http://atlas.lsu.edu/ and navigate to download the DRG Files
   2. For the DEM you can go to http://seamless.usgs.gov/
   3. You shouldn’t need the Land Use and Soils files for these projects because they do not require you to compute CN, but if you want to run HMS or something else then you can refer to the SCS document to process the land use and soils files
4. Delineate the watershed
   1. Before delineating turn on the Create TC Coverage option
   2. Set the Accumulation Threshold to 1-3 sq. miles
5. Clean up the model
   1. Turn off the Model Checker if you want
6. Exit the wizard and identify the data necessary to run your model.
7. Use the Maximum Flow Slope *5280 to get feet/mile
8. Save your WMS Project.
9. Open the MeanRainfall.jpg or MeanRainfallUpdated.jpg file and determine the Mean Annual Rainfall.
10. Run your model with the standard LADOTD program.
    1. http://www.dotd.louisiana.gov/highways/road_design/hydr/