Chang Hahk Hahm, Chan Young Park and Jong Sun Yun

An Extraction of the Hydro-Geometric Information by Using Geographic Information System



A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a useful tool in the assessment of extraction of the hydro-geometric informati on.The main objective of this study is to extract the hydro-geometric information of the Pyongchang River basin, headwat ers of the South Han River. A GIS is capable of extracting various hydrological factors from DEM(digital elevation model ). One of important tasks for hydrological analysis is the division of watershed. It can be an essential factor among va rious geometric characteristics of watershed. In this study, watershed itself and other geometric factors of watershed a re extracted from DEM by using a GIS technique. The manual process of tasks to obtain geometric characteristics of water shed is automated by using the function of ArcInfo software as a GIS package. Scanned data is used for this study and i t is converted to DEM data. Various forms of representation of spatial data are handled in main modules and a GRID modul e of ArcInfo.A GRID module is used on a stream in order to define watershed boundary, so it would be possible to obtain the watersheds. Also, a flowdirection, stream networks and others are generated. The results show that GIS can aid wate rshed management and research and surveillance. Also the geometric characteristics as parameters of watershed can be qua ntified by a using GIS technique. Resonable results can be obtained as compared with conventional graphic methods.





1. INTRODUCTION

As GIS software  matures in functionality, speed,  and flexibility, issues of  the use and 
suitability of GIS the extraction  of the hydro-geometric information. This study is about 
the extraction  of hydro-geometric  data to manage  water resources more  effectively. GIS 
technique is  applied to extract spatial  information from an  experimental watershed, and 
analysis is carried out to evaluate the results which will be used for management of water 
resources.
Besides being  applied for  the extraction of  hydro-geometric data such  as physiographic 
factor, soil, landuse and characteristics of watershed. GIS can be used to reduce the time 
and manpower needed in the tedious  manual task of collecting such data. ArcInfo was used 
with  DEM  to   extract  and  quantify  the   geometric  characteristics  and  topographic 
characteristics of streams. It  is anticipated that the result of  this study will be used 
for the implementation  of the database of a water  information system and will contribute 
to the management of water resources.


2. SCOPE AND MAJOR OBJECTIVES

An experimental area was  selected as the Pyongchang River basin  one of the headwaters of 
South Han  River, South  Korea. 4 sheets  of 1:50,000  topographic maps were  scanned then 
contours were vectorized to  get a TIN. DEM was then formed  to formulate the stream line. 
The flow  direction was  determined using the  fact that  water flows toward  the steepest 
direction and  the stream network and  watershed boundary was induced  from the determined 
flow direction. Also  various cell sizes was tested by  comparing computed streamlines and 
actual stream features on the  topographic maps. Using the computed stream network, stream 
order was  found by Strahler method  and various hydro-geometric  information factors were 
determined such as contributing drainage  area(CDA), average basin slope(BS), main channel 
length(MCL), basin perimeter(BP),  total stream length(TSL), number  of first streams with 
contributing drainage area(FOS).  The results were then compared  with results obtained by 
conventional  graphic  method  and  evaluated.   It  is  hoped  that  the  hydro-geometric 
information of Pyongchang River basin extracted  by the GIS method presented in this paper 
will be useful in decision makings of the management and operation of water resources. 


3. METHOD

The study area,  Pyongchang River basin which  is one of the  representative basins of the 
International  Hydrological  Program(IHP),is comprised  mostly  of  mountainous areas  and 
starts from Mt. Kebang (1,577 meters) and is located at E 128 15 45 - E 128 31 30, N 37 24 
34 - 37 43 55.  The geometric characteristics parameters extracted by conventional graphic 
method is as follows.  The CDA is about 523.79 km2,  MCL is 51.85 km, the TCL of  tributary 
and main  water is 712.77  km and the BS  by Hortons method  is 0.333 radian.  4 sheets of 
1:50,000 topographic maps published by  the National Geographic Institute was scanned  and 
contour lines, spot height symbols and  streams were vectorized. The input data used is as 
in table 3.1.  Themes selected are contour lines, spot  height symbols, stream network and 
administrative  boundaries.  Watershed  was  extracted  with reference  to  administrative 
boundaries and contour lines. Table 3.2 shows the layers of the digital maps used and Fig. 
3.1 shows the components of the software used. 







         Table 3.1  Input data of Pyongchang River basin
  +-------------+---------------------+---------------+--------------+
  | type of map |    sheet number     |     scale     |administration|
  +-------------+---------------------+---------------+--------------+
  |             |     NJ52-10-10      |               |              |
  |             +---------------------+               |              |
  |             |     NJ52-10-11      |               |  national    |
  | topographic +---------------------+  1 :  50,000  |  geographic  |
  | map         |     NJ52-10-17      |               |  institute   |
  |             +---------------------+               |              |
  |             |     NJ52-10-18      |               |              |
  +-------------+---------------------+---------------+--------------+


      Table 3.2  Digital basemap of Pyongchang River basin
+----------------+-------------+---------+-----------+---------------------+
|      layer     |data source  |  scale  | data type |   attribute data    |
+----------------+-------------+---------+-----------+---------------------|
|contour line    |             |         |  line     |   elevation         |
+----------------|             |         |           |                     |
|spot height     |topographic  |1:50,000 |  point    |   elevation         |
+----------------+ map         |         |           |                     |
|stream network  |             |         |  line     |   river name        |
+----------------+             |         |           |                     |
|watershed       |             |         |  polygon  |   watershed name    |
+----------------+             |         |           |                     |
|administration  |             |         |  polygon  | administration name |
+----------------+-------------+---------+-----------+---------------------+


       +-----------------------------------------------------------+
       |                      AML Menu Interface                   |
       +-----------------------------------------------------------+
       +-----------------------------------------------------------+     
       |                          AML Program                      |
       +-----------------------------------------------------------+                       
       +-----------------------------------------------------------+     
       |                           ArcInfo                        |
       +-----------------------------------------------------------+
$)C
                                   !h!i                     
       +--------------------  ArcInfo DATABASE  ------------------+
       |           +--------+     +--------+     +--------+        |
       |           |        +-----+        +-----+        |        |
       |           +--------+     +--------+     +--------+        |
       |           Terrain DB    Attribute DB  Hydro-information   |
       +-----------------------------------------------------------+
                                    !h!i  
       +-----------------------------------------------------------+
       |                          Vectorizing                      |    
       |                  (AUTOCAD, IRASB, IGEOVEC)                |  
       +-----------------------------------------------------------+  
                Fig.3.1  Components map of software


GIS can be effectively applied  to spatial analysis tasks which requires repetitive manual 
observations. The  spatial analysis of  watersheds leads to  extraction of  input data for 
runoff model and information for watershed management.
In  this study,  watershed  parameters such  as  average slope  of  watershed, topographic 
analysis of  watershed, 3  dimensional perspective display  were extracted from  DEM using 
GRID  analysis of  ArcInfo. The  extracted spatial  information  was quantified  by using 
various formula  for hydrologic  and topographic  analysis. The  result was  compared with 
values  of conventional  methods  and evaluated  for  the  applicability of  GIS  for this 
purpose.

The area and  perimeter values of conventional  graphic method and GIS  method is shown in 
Table 3.3. The  difference in area was  quite small which was about  3.12 km2 and the  main 
channel length was about 0.53 km. The  difference in the perimeter of the watershed is due 
to the size of the cell which determines the DEM of the basin area. Also the fact that dry 
rivers  which are  not  shown on  topographic  maps but  were  taken into  account  in GIS 
analysis, could contribute to  the difference in the TSL of the  river. This could lead to 
the fact that the difference in type of river, MCL and TSL will increase with the increase 
of map scale.

Table 3.3 Comparison of geometric factors of study area 
          between graphical method and GIS technique

+-----------------------+-------------------------------------+
|   hydro-geometric     |             (1:50,000)              |
|   information         +-------------------+-----------------+
|                       | conventional      |  GIS method     |
|                       | graphic method    |                 |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|Contributing Drainage  |                   |                 |
|    Area (km2)         | 523.79            | 520.67          |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|Basin Perimeter(km)    | 118.84            | 148.82          |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|Main Channel Length(km)| 51.85             | 52.38           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|Total Stream Length    | 712.77            | 1,549.74        |
|       (km)            |                   |                 |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|Stream order           | 5                 | 7               |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|average Basin Slope(°) | 19.079            | 20.375          |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Basin Relief (km)     | 1.220             | 1.190           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|Main Channel Slope(°)  | 3.140             | 3.410           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+      
| effective Basin       | 14.74             | 14.95           |                     
| Width(km)             |                   |                 | 
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Slope Ratio           | 0.165             | 0.167           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+     
| Shape Factor          | 0.412             | 0.427           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Form Ratio            | 0.068             | 0.068           |       
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Main Channel Sinuosity| 1.448             | 1.495           |
| Ratio                 |                   |                 |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Rotundity of Basin    | 0.323             | 0.335           |          
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Elongation Ratio      | 1.761             | 1.729           |                 
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Drainage Frequency    | 0.629             | 0.789           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| number of  First Order| 365               | 413             |
| Stream                |                   |                 |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Relate Relief         | 0.010             | 0.008           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+                       
| Stream Density        | 1.350             | 2.959           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Constant of Channel   | 0.741             | 0.338           |
| Maintenance           |                   |                 |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Ruggdeness Number     | 1.647             | 3.521           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Compactness Ratio     | 1.459             | 1.853           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Compactness           | 0.685             | 0.545           |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Main Channel Slope    | 29.261            | 28.370          |
| Proportion            |                   |                 |
+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
      
4. CONCLUSION

The extraction  of basic  data needed  for a comprehensive  water resources  management of 
basins involves tedious manual tasks with topographic maps.
This study has addressed  this problem by applying the various  spatial analysis of GIS to 
the database established  for the Pyonchang River basin. Also  the various topographic and 
hydrologic information is extracted and quantified. As a result of applying GIS method for 
the  extraction and  analysis of  hydro-geometric information  of  large scale  basin, the 
following conclusions can be made.

As a result  of implementation of DEM of Pyongchang  River basin from 1:50,000 topographic 
maps and comparing various parameters  extracted by conventional graphic method and by GIS 
method from DEM,  the difference in area  of river basin showed  3.12 km2 for the  1:50,000 
scale which indicates acceptable reliability of the GIS method.

The  stream  channel  do topographic  maps  and  the  GIS  extracted streams  showed  some 
differences and this can be evaluated by the review of the topographic maps which had been 
used for the computation of hydro-geometric information.

To evaluate  and analyse  the difference  showed between the  GIS method  and conventional 
graphic method it is  advised that detail topographic study of the  area be carried out by 
interpretation of aerial photos and  remotely sensed space imageries. Further studies will 
be  carried out  to  form  a database  with  the extracted  hydro-geometric  data  for the 
computation of runoff and a comprehensive  management of water resources. It is also hoped 
that  there will  be  activities carried  out for  the  development of  a  water resources 
management specific GIS software.


5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The support of  Inha University Foundation, President Dr. Sung  Wook Cho of Inha Technical 
Junior  College  and  President Dr.  Ha  Ryong  Chung  of  Hanjin  GIS  Co. is  gratefully 
acknowledged.


6. REFERENCES

CHANG HAHK HAHM et al., An Extraction of Geometric Characteristics Parameters of Watershed 
by Using  GIS, Journal of Korea  Water Resources Association, Vol.28  No.2, 1995, pp.115-
124.

CHANG HAHK HAHM  et al., Water Quality Management   Environmental Information Display and 
Query System  Development, In  the Proceedings  of the 15th  Annual Esri  User Conference, 
1995, pp.168-170.

David,  A. E.,  A  Geographic  Information System  Procedure  to  Quantify Drainage  Basin 
Characteristics, Water Res. Bull., Vol.30, No.1, 1994, pp.1-8.

David,  A. E.,  A  Geographic  Information System  Procedure  to  Quantify Physical  Basin 
Characteristics, In  Proceedings of  the Symposium  on Geographic Information  Systems and 
Water  Resources,  American  Water  Resources  Association  Technical  Publication  Series 
TPS-93-1, 1993, pp.173-182.

David, A. E., Estimating Design-Flood  Discharges for Streams in IOWA Using Drainage-Basin 
and Channel-Geometry Characteristics, U.S.  Geological Survey Water Resour. Invest. Report 
93-4063, 1993, pp.1-44.

James,  J. Majure  and David,  A.  E. ,  An Automated  Method to  Quantify  Physical Basin 
Characteristics, USGS Water Res. Invest. Report 91-4034, 1991, pp.558-561.



Chang Hahk Hahm
Assistant Professor, Director GIS Lab., Ph.D., Dept. of Aerial Survey
Inha Technical Junior College
253, Yong-Hyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Inchon, 402-752, South Korea
Tel) 82-32-870-2241
Fax) 82-32-868-3408
Chan Young Park
Professor, Ph.D., Dept. of Civil Engineering
Inha Technical Junior College
253, Yong-Hyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Inchon, 402-752, South Korea
Tel) 82-32-870-2233
Fax) 82-32-868-3408
Jong Sun Yun
Research Supervisor, GIS Research Institute
Hanjin GIS Co.,Ltd
429-1, Sin-Soo-Dong, Mapo-Gu, Seoul, 121-110, South Korea
Tel) 82-2-3272-6446 Fax) 82-2-717-7514