GIS in Water Resources       Review for Midterm Exam              Fall 2008

The material is classified according to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives:

Level         Title                      Meaning

1                Knowledge           Definitions, facts, formulas

2                Comprehension     Explanation of definitions, formulas, problem solving procedures

3                Application           Know how to use a formula or procedure to solve simple problems

4                Analysis                Break down a complex problem and solve by steps

5                Synthesis               Derivation of basic formulas, design of new systems

6                Evaluation             Advantages and limitations of alternative approaches

Session            Topic                                                                                                  Level

1                      Introduction to GIS in Water Resources                                                  2

2                      Introduction to ArcGIS                                                                            2

3                      Exercise 1: Introduction to ArcGIS and HydroExcel                              5

4                      Data sources for GIS in water resources                                                  2

5                      Geodesy, Map Projections and Coordinate Systems                                4

6                      Exercise 2: Building a Base Map for the San Marcos Basin                    5

7                      Spatial analysis using grids                                                                       4

8                      Exercise 3:  Spatial analysis                                                                      5

9                      NHD, NHDPlus and HydroNetworks                                                     3

10                    Space and time in ArcGIS                                                                        2

11                    Exercise 4: Flow networks and basin precipitation                                  5

12                    DEM’s and watershed delineation                                                           4

13                    Exercise 5: Watershed and stream network delineation                           5

Expected Skills

·         Convert degree, minute, second coordinates to decimal degrees, and vice versa

Determine the length of a line along a meridian, parallel or great circle on a spherical earth.

Determine the length of a line when using projected coordinates.

Sketch on a map the standard parallels, central meridian, and latitude of origin for a given projection (the coordinates of origin, what earth datum, what projection)

Determine the map extent of a set of geographic data

Determine the statistics (e.g. average value or sum) of an attribute of a selected set of features satisfying a logical query

Be able to take the parameters of a map projection and interpret what they mean (focus on geographic, UTM, Albers and State Plane projections)

Know the common national data sources for GIS in Water Resources and their GIS data formats (vector, raster, point, line, polygon etc.)

Understand how geometric networks are created and how catchments and attributes are connected to flowlines in the NHDPlus.

Understand how geoprocessing operations can be sequenced through time to create time series of watershed attributes.

Be able to perform raster calculations for spatial analysis and understand the concepts involved with raster calculation

Be able to calculate slope on a DEM

Take a small grid of elevation cells and calculate the flow direction and flow accumulation grids

Define the watershed of a cell in a DEM grid

Derive Geomorphologic and Watershed attributes from a DEM derived drainage network.  These include, channel length, drainage area, and drainage density.

Be able to use interpolation tools to obtain spatial fields from point data and explain the function and interpret the output of these tools.

Be able to use zonal statistics tools to obtain averages of spatial fields such as precipitation and slope over watersheds and catchments.  Explain the function and interpret the output from these tools.

Be able to analyze spatial aspects of the water balance (precipitation, streamflow, and runoff ratios) to develop a spatial understanding of the hydrologic flows in a river basin

Readings from Arc Hydro: GIS in Water Resources

Concept

Reference in “Arc Hydro”

1.  Building hydronetworks and connecting features to them

Chapter 3, pp. 34-47

2.  DEM’s and delineation of watersheds and stream networks

Chapter 4, pp. 55-86

3.  Time series and connecting spatial and temporal data

Chapter 7, pp. 146-161