GIS Hydro 2001 - Introduction

David R. Maidment

Center for Research in Water Resources, University of Texas at Austin

GIS Hydro 2001 continues the theme of developing the ArcGIS Hydro data model that was introduced with the GIS Hydro 2000 CD-ROM.  The work on this data model began in September 1999, when ESRI and CRWR together formed a GIS in Water Resources Consortium and invited other institutions and individuals to join in that effort.   The Consortium's goal is the design and implementation of a GeoDatabase model for water resources using the new object modeling technology in ArcGIS version 8.1 which is just now being released.   This CD-ROM presents updated results of this collaborative effort, a revised draft ArcGIS Hydro data model, a revised draft book manuscript, which describes the data model concepts and structures, and example datasets of its implementation.   Also contained in the CD-ROM are example geodatabases from the book chapters which can be used to see how the concepts explained in the chapters have resulted in a completed ArcGIS Hydro database.    Some of the research leading to the book relied on documents describing other data models, particularly those for stream hydrography.  A number of these documents are included in the Digital Library, along with CRWR Online Reports describing the results of research projects whose insights contributed to the data model.  In keeping with the tradition of previous GIS Hydro CD's, we have included a Digital Classroom with learning exercises for ArcGIS to help users of GIS in hydrology get started with this new software.   Also included in the Digital Classroom are examples of term projects from the GIS in Water Resources course held in Fall 2000 at the University of Texas at Austin.  These projects show how creative students take technology and use it to investigate subjects that interest them.

The ArcGIS Hydro Data Model is one of a series of GeoDatabase models, which the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) is developing in collaboration with partners.   Each GeoDatabase model is described in a book, at the back of which is a CD-ROM containing the model structure, and GeoDatabases for example applications of the model.    A GeoDatabase model is a framework for capturing key geographic and descriptive information about a class of landscape features, and for attaching behaviors to the features.   The GeoDatabase is accessed using ESRI’s new ArcGIS version 8.1 software, in which objects interact through interfaces designed according to a common standard.


The significant events in the evolution of the ArcGIS Hydro data model have been:


The length of time this task has taken and the substantial amount of public review which these various conferences have provided, are evidence that it is a substantial task to design and implement a general purpose water resources data model in the new ArcGIS software environment.  Hopefully this substantial process will facilitate utilization of the new software by the GIS in Water Resources community.

This manuscript and the accompanying CD-ROM were prepared for the GIS Hydro 2001 PreConference Seminar held at the ESRI User Conference in San Diego in July 2001.   Both the manuscript and the data model are draft versions intended for review by the GIS in Water Resources community.  Comments and suggestions as to how the manuscript and model can be improved are welcome and solicited.   After the model and manuscript review are completed, and appropriate adjustments made to their content, the ArcGIS Data Model and accompanying book will be published by ESRI Press.

I wish to acknowledge the generous collaboration and support which this effort has received from the water resources community.   In particular, the following organizations have financially supported research efforts of the Consortium for GIS in Water Resources:  ESRI, US Environmental Protection Agency, Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, Lower Colorado River Authority, City of Austin, Texas, Dodson and Associates, Camp, Dresser and McKee, DHI ─ Institute for Water and Environment, and the Hydrologic Engineering Center of the US Army Corps of Engineers.


Individuals from several organizations contributed to the data model design and the draft book. Scott Morehouse, Dale Honeycutt, David Arctur, Steve Grise, Dean Djokic, Zichuan Ye, and Steve Kopp at ESRI Redlands contributed significantly to the data model design, and David Arctur and Steve Grise contributed Chapter 13 of the manuscript. Nawajish Noman and Jim Nelson from Brigham Young University contributed the data model design for river channels and wrote Chapter 5 of the  manuscript.   Michael Blongewicz of the DHI - Institute for Water and Environment, Denmark, developed the time series data design with David Arctur and I, and Michael and David wrote the first draft of Chapter 8 of the manuscript on time series.   .  I want to say a special "thank you" to the loyal Arc Hydro team at CRWR who worked very hard, especially over the past several weeks to prepare the draft data model design, its applications, and many of the book chapters.  The midnight oil was burning brightly to get all this completed in time for presentation at the GIS Hydro 2001 seminar.   Those researchers who contributed include: Erik DeJonge, Kevin Donnelly, Melissa Figurski, Jordan Furnans, Tanya Hoogerwerf, Venkatesh Merwade, Francisco Olivera, Victoria Samuels, Kristina Schneider, Sarah Stone, and Tim Whiteaker, with the help of CRWR staff Sharon Bernard, Marcy Betak, Michael Nettles, and Susan Swanson.  In particular, I want to thank Jordan Furnans, the manager of this year's CD-ROM development.  He put in many hours helping to get the information organized on the CD-ROM.

The chapters and authors of the ArcGIS Hydro Data Model manuscript are:

Chapter 1 – Introduction
David Maidment, CRWR, and Scott Morehouse, ESRI

Chapter 2 – Conceptual Framework
David Maidment, CRWR

Chapter 3 – HydroNetwork
Francisco Olivera, CRWR, and Dale Honeycutt, ESRI

Chapter 4 – Drainage Systems
Jordan Furnans and Francisco Olivera, CRWR

Chapter 5 – River Channels
Nawajish Noman and James Nelson, BYU

Chapter 6 – Hydrography
Kristina Schneider, Kim Davis, Victoria Samuels and David Maidment, CRWR

Chapter 7 – Time Series
 Michael Blongewicz, DHI, David Arctur, ESRI, and Venkatesh Merwade, CRWR,

Chapter 8 – Hydrologic Modeling
Venkatesh Merwade and David Maidment, CRWR

Chapter 9 – Application to the Lower Colorado River Basin
Sarah Stone, CRWR

Chapter 10 – Application to the City of Austin
Tim Whiteaker and Katherine Osborne, CRWR

Chapter 11 – Application to the Trinity-San Jacinto Coastal Basin
Victoria Samuels, CRWR

Chapter 12 – Application to Flood Plain Mapping
Kevin Donnelly, CRWR

Chapter 13 – Implementing the ArcGIS Hydro Data Model
Steve Grise, David Arctur and Bob Booth, ESRI

Author’s Institutions:

BYU: Environmental Modeling Research Laboratory, Brigham Young University, Utah
CRWR: Center for Research in Water Resources, University of Texas at Austin
DHI: DHI ― Institute for Water and Environment, Denmark
ESRI: Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, California

The book chapters are stored on this CD-ROM as Adobe pdf documents, and in the chapters where there are accompanying GeoDatabases, the data are described in the chapter or in an html document included on this CD-ROM.   Preparing all these materials has been a challenge.  I hope that you find the information enlightening and useful.

David R. Maidment

Ashley H. Priddy Centennial Professor of Engineering
Director, Center for Research in Water Resources
The University of Texas at Austin

maidment@mail.utexas.edu
http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/maidment

These materials may be used for study, research, and education, but please credit the authors and the Center for Research in Water Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. All commercial rights reserved. Copyright 2001 Center for Research in Water Resources.