“The application of GIS is limited only by the imagination of those who use it”.
Jack Dangermond, Esri Company So, today,my glorious readers, I am going to tell you about GIS applications in hydrology! One of the most common applications is the hydrological application, and the opportunities here are enormous! To proceed, I´ll use the simple logic of narration: first, what things can be displayed, second, how they can be analyzed, and third, what conclusions and decisions can be made. So, first, displaying. As a background for a hydrological map, an elevation model of the Earth’s surface is normally used, withg round water reservoirs displayed in a certain way if needed. Then, since the occurrence of water in nature varies in time, such crucial dynamic parameters as incoming, outgoing and groundwater flows, precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff and other features are displayed. The possibilities for analysis are huge (or maybe I’m getting too enthusiastic), and include predicting flood-vulnerable or water-scarce areas, and finding out the possible impact of global warming on the regional hydrological situation. The conclusions and decisions come directly from the previous. We can decide what hydrological projects to implement to protect water bodies, and which projects should be reconsidered or cancelled. We could think globally but act locally and try to anticipate the effects of global warming already today. With the help of watershed GIS, we can create a risk management system for floods and droughts and develop a restoration plan if the worst has already happened. There is a nice example of how one of the global warming problems was solved. One may safely say that with the fast growth of population in recent years, the need for water for domestic, industrial, and agricultural uses has increased, while resources are diminishing due to overuse and contamination. Thus, the establishment of good management of water resources has become one of the main challenges.This case comes from Australia 2008, where almost 10 years of drought had emphasized the need for better management of water resources. So, then, the following decision was made: a National Groundwater Data and Information Systems was designed - a special computer system for making a proper analysis of groundwater movement - and a basis for this system was an Arc GIS map. In future, it helped to make an effective water management system. GIS is multifunctional and almighty! In hydrology, GIS applications are especially helpful for watershed-scale analyses, for instance integrated surface and modeling of underground water,also regional underground water modeling, and analyses of water quality. Locally, GIS can be useful for the selection of underground water development sites and places where depleted groundwater resources can be artificially replenished. These analyses must take into consideration a broad range of data, namely: use of land, property ownership, geology, types of soil, and distance from the source. In addition, GIS has the very beneficial possibility to integrate data from various sources, namely: vegetation and land cover, boreholes and wells, satellite imagery and surface geology. And importantly, this information can be utilized immediately to design a clearer understanding of surface water movement and subsurface water movement and their interactions. So,as the saying goes, "the one who controls the GIS, controls the world (in 2D and 3D forms, of course)!" And here is one link, just for fun! Start typing the words and enjoy the magic! Vera Mazaikina “The early days of GIS were very lonely. No-one knew what it meant.”
Roger Tomlinson, the Father of GIS Behind the mysterious abbreviation of GIS, which may sound familiar to some of you already, there are no dinosaurs or skeletons, or even giants.It actually stands for a sort of “formula”: geographic + information + system. If reading that you feel disappointed and irritated, while recalling that you’ve always hated geography, computers and unknown abbreviations, be fast to scroll the page and read some other nice blog posts with probably less catchy titles. For the rest of you it should be an interesting topic and I’ll continue. So, GIS. It can be defined through all the three components of the acronym. First, “geographic” means that it has something to do with maps, location on Earth and Google maps. Secondly, “information” in this case stands for objects of different kinds (buildings, natural landscape, whether stationary or in motion), coordinates and their features. System here means that geographic information can be collected, transformed, analyzed and applied. Rather broad definition, isn´t it? This is a common problem in describing what GIS actually is, and thus looking at the particular implementations and applications of this “beast” would be more useful than just a plain definition. A good field to use as a source for examples would be the environmental one. Normally, the most crucial tool in dealing with GIS is the computer program. Probably, it is because GIS’s main “alternative” and ancestor – drawing the contours of objects on a plastic film and then combining them as needed – is not the most efficient and convenient way, but does create a lot of dull jobs. There are several GIS computer programs, either commercial or open-source, user-friendly or user-hostile and other or’s, but the basic idea behind them is similar: the spatial information is presented in the form of an interactive map, on which objects, landscape features and other various information are shown. Where does the initial information come from? Well, this topic deserves another huge post, but in brief, it comes from digitizing available maps, remote sensing via aerial or satellite images, and land-based sensing and mapping. After the information in the form of a map is loaded into the computer program, the user can easily (or not so easily, it depends) edit it, analyze it, state questions and find the answers by means of so-called geospatial analysis tools. To get a bit more specific, let´s have a look at the actual applications of the GIS. Ready? Unfortunately we are not yet :) But the second blog post is underway, where we will be discussing several practical applications of GIS, which are used in environment sciences and engineering! Thank you for attention and see you in the next post! P. S. While waiting, you could actually check the karaoke-videos to the theme of our acquaintance with G-I-Yes! They are hilarious. G-I-Yes! and GIS Hip-hop Maksim Mandelshtam |
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May 2019
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