Description
If you work in the physical sciences, the most common dataset used is elevation
data. Also known as terrain data, are import for many kinds of analysis, and are
available in many forms, from many sources and resolutions.
Although the most common use of DEMs is as shaded relief background for
maps, we often are interested in working with terrain data – calculating slopes,
aspects, steepness or slope along profiles, viewsheds, as well as watershed and
other hydrologic functions. The readings and lectures describe some of these
applications, and this set of exercises introduces them.
We will complete two projects here, using the same basic data. The first project
has two parts, first comparing DEM raster data sets from 2 time periods; a 30
meter data set from the USGS and produced in the late 1980s, and a 3 meter
data set from LiDAR data collected about 2006. We then use the LiDAR DEM to
explore profile and viewshed tools.
Our second project focuses on watershed processing, using the ArcGIS
Hydrology tools.
