Abstract

WBD/NHD Integration—A New Opportunity for GIS
Track: Water Resources
Authors: Stephen Daw

The National Hydrography Dataset and Watershed Boundary Dataset are highly successful components GIS in water resources. Integrating them into a common data model will now unleash even more powerful capabilities for analysis. A highly functional data design taking advantage of geodatabase technology means an advanced dataset that will serve sophisticated analysis for years to come while at the same time being simple and easy to use to give users at all levels of expertise the ability to apply the data. Developing the new dataset has demonstrated a strong inter-agency collaboration at all levels. The result today is a new GIS dataset that is well on its way to providing useful new data to scientists and users for years to come. Examples of national, regional, and local applications showing how WBD improves management, exchange, and analysis of hydrologic data demonstrate the usefulness of the new integrated database.

Stephen Daw
USGS
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E-mail: sgdaw@usgs.gov