Geospatial Representation of River Channels
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 10, Issue 3
Abstract
A geographic information system (GIS) approach for creating a three-dimensional (3D) topographic data set for straight or meandering river channels is presented. As input, the approach requires channel banklines, an initially arbitrary centerline, and a set of river bathymetry points. A curvilinear orthogonal -coordinate system that references data along and transverse to flow in the river channel is used. The methodology includes locating the channel centerline along the thalweg and then using it as a reference for assigning -coordinates to the bathymetric data. The resulting bathymetric data in the -coordinate system are used to create a square mesh, or FishNet, and this FishNet is then transformed back to the original -coordinates to get a flow-oriented 3D mesh. The resulting 3D mesh is a network of lines transverse to the flow (cross sections) and lines parallel to the flow (profile lines). The output thus provides a flow-oriented 3D representation of channel geometry that can be used for river habitat and hydraulic modeling.
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Acknowledgments
This research was financially supported by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) under grant number 2002-483-439. We appreciate the assistance of Barney Austin and Tim Osting of TWDB for providing the data required for the study. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and Janice Sylvestre for comments that led to improvement of the manuscript.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 10 • Issue 3 • May 2005
Pages: 243 - 251
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 8, 2003
Accepted: May 29, 2004
Published online: May 1, 2005
Published in print: May 2005
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