Introduction to the US Army Corps of

Engineers Spatial Hydrologic Modeling

System with GSSHA and WMS
GSSHA Using the Watershed Modeling
System

Tutorials Volume 1
WMS BASICS

WMS 8.4 Compatible Volume 1

Copyright 2010 Aquaveo, LLC
All Rights Reserved
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AQUAVEO LLC MAKES NO WARRANTIES EITHER EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED REGARDING THE PROGRAM WMS AND ITS FITNESS FOR
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LOADING DEMS, CONTOUR OPTIONS, IMAGES, AND COORDINATE SYSTEM ................ 1-1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9

WATERSHED DELINEATION USING DEMS AND 2D GRID GENERATION ........................... 2-1

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1-1

GETTING AROUND THE WMS INTERFACE ......................................................................................... 1-2
IMAGES .............................................................................................................................................. 1-4
GEOTIFF FILES ................................................................................................................................... 1-4
OVERLAYING IMAGES ........................................................................................................................ 1-5
REGISTERING IMAGES ........................................................................................................................ 1-7
WORLD FILES .................................................................................................................................. 1-13
GIS SHAPEFILES .............................................................................................................................. 1-13
MAPPING SHAPEFILES TO WMS COVERAGES .................................................................................. 1-17

INITIATING WMS............................................................................................................................... 2-1

DOWNLOADING AND IMPORTING DEM DATA ................................................................................... 2-1
COMPUTING THE FLOW DIRECTIONS AND FLOW ACCUMULATIONS ................................................... 2-5
DELINEATING THE WATERSHED ........................................................................................................ 2-6
2D GRID GENERATION ........................................................................................................................ 2-7
WORKSHOP TASKS ............................................................................................................................ 2-8

CREATING FEATURE OBJECTS AND MAPPING THEIR ATTRIBUTES TO THE 2D GRID 3-1
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5

MAPPING GIS SHAPE FILES TO WMS COVERAGE .............................................................................. 3-2

CREATING INDEX MAPS ..................................................................................................................... 3-4
EXPLORING MAPPING TABLES ........................................................................................................... 3-7
SAVING A GSSHA PROJECT ............................................................................................................ 3-10
TASK................................................................................................................................................ 3-11

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate System

CHAPTER

Loading DEMs, Contour Options,

Images, and Coordinate Systems

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate Systems

In this first exercise you will get familiar with the WMS interface and the help
system using data from the Park City, Utah area.

1.1 Introduction
We will learn the basic layout of WMS and get acquainted with the interface.

The left most portion of the WMS window is called Project Explorer, the
central part is the display window, and the right part is the Properties window.
The properties window changes based on the selected item.

1-2 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

1.2 Getting Around the WMS Interface

The WMS Help file has a section on some of the basic elements of the WMS
graphical user interface (GUI).

1.2.1 Self-Guided Tour

The WMS Help file is located on a wiki site at http://www.xmswiki.com and
documents the important elements of the GUI. In this section you will practice
on your own to become familiar with the interface, but you can always refer
back to the help file on xmswiki.com as needed.
1. Start WMS
2. Select Help | WMS Help
3. Take a couple of minutes to review the WMS Help wiki and then
close the help page
4. Different operations like spatial data reading/editing, hydrologic
modeling or grid generation etc. are done using different modules.
Switching from one module to the other can be done by clicking the
corresponding module icons
bar. As you do, you will notice menus and
tools change according to the available
options. Change the module several times
and note how the menus and tools change
according to the active module. When you
are done, be sure the Terrain Data module is
active (the first one from the left).
5. If you look at the WMS project explorer, you
can see that there is a folder in the project
explorer to contain the data associated with
each module (the drainage module shares
data from the terrain and map modules).
6. The default behavior of the project explorer
window is to switch modules as these folders
or data contained in them are selected. For
example, if you click on the GIS Layers
folder, the GIS Module will be selected and
if you click on the Coverages folder, the map
module will be selected.
7. WMS 8.4 projects are saved as *.wms files.
When you save the project, all necessary
files are saved and the saved project can be
reopened. You should always save your
model as a .wms file before creating a 2D
grid for a GSSHA model so you have a base
project to work with. After building a 2D

in the menu

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate System

1-3

grid and initializing your GSSHA model, you should save your project
as a GSSHA project file (with a .prj extension).
8. You can control which objects are displayed by checking and unchecking the data elements in the Project Explorer window. Set the
style, color, and size of elements drawn using the Display Options
Contour Options
, and other macros.
9. Select File | Open
/BaseProj.wms

Browse and open file C:/Training/Images

10. Select the Contour Options

macro and experiment with changing
some of the contouring options such as the Contour Methods, Contour
Interval and Color Ramp.
11. Controlling what and how objects are visually displayed can be set
through the display options. To set the display options, select Display |
Display options or simply click the display options button
menu bar.

on the

12. In the Display Options dialog box enter 2.0 for Z magnification. You
can also access the DEM contour options from the display options by
selecting the DEM Data object in the upper left corner of the Display
Options window. Click the options button next to DEM Contours.
Make sure the DEM Contour Method is set to Color Fill and click OK
twice.

13. Select the Rotate Tool

and drag your watershed so you can
visualize the watershed relief.

1-4 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

14. Select the Contour Options

macro and set the Contour Method to

Normal Linear. Select OK and then select Plan View

to reset the
drawing of the DEM from the changes you made with the rotate tool.

1.3 Images
Images are an important part of projects developed using WMS. An image is
comprised of a number of pixels (picture elements), each with its own color.
The resolution, or size, of the pixels determines the area and detail represented
in the image. Images may be used in WMS to derive locations for features such
as roads, streams, confluences, land use, soils and so forth. Images also
provide a base map for your project.
In order to make use of images they must be georeferenced. Georeferencing an
image defines appropriate x and y coordinates so that it can be spatially
overlaid with other data. Because images are commonly used in Geographic
Information System (GIS) programs like WMS, data developers often store the
georeferencing information as either part of the image file (a geotiff file for
example), or in a separate file commonly referred to as a world file.
In this section we will experiment with JPG and TIFF image files. We will also
see how an image without spatial information can be georeferenced.

1.4 Geotiff Files

Geotiff images are files that embed the georeferencing information. This means
that you do not have to specify coordinates when you read in the image.

1.4.1 Scales
In this section we will see how the scale of an image affects the display. We
will use some of the images for Provo, Utah.
1. Select File|New or click on macro icon
WMS.

to open a new instance of

2. Select File | Open

3. Browse the folder C:\Training\Images\ and open the following
images:
a) provo24K.tif
b) provo100K.tif and
c) provo250K.tif
Click No if prompted to convert to jpg

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate System

1-5

Note: These are the topographic maps of the Provo, UT area. The three
images are of different scales (1:24000, 1:100000 and 1:250000
respectively).
4. Once these files are open, you can see them listed in the project
explorer (see the following figure).

5. Turn the display of the images on and off by checking them on and off
in the project explorer. Leave them all on when you are done
experimenting.
6. Select the Zoom Tool
and draw a rectangle over the image to
zoom into the area of your preference.
Zooming Tips: With the zoom in tool
selected, if you press and hold
the Shift key in the keyboard, the zoom in tool changes to
zoom out tool
You can also use the scroll wheel of your mouse to zoom
in and out with any tool or module selected.
7. Zoom into the same location in the three different images and see the
difference in resolution, area covered by the images, details captured
etc.

1.5 Overlaying Images

Here we will see how different types of images can be overlaid together.
1. Close WMS and open a new instance of WMS. Browse and open
image C:\Training\ Images\provoTStopo.jpg. This is a topographical

1-6 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

map
of
Provo
area
obtained
from
Terraserver
(http://www.terraserver.com/). This image is already georeferenced.
Many of the tools in WMS depend on your currently defined coordinate
system. One such feature that uses your current coordinate system (also
called a projection) is the get data tool. Before using the get data tool, you
must have your current projection defined so WMS can determine the
latitude/longitude coordinates of your required data.
2. Select Edit | Current Coordinates to set your current coordinates
3. Select the Global Projection option
4. Select Set Projection
5. Set Projection to UTM, Datum to NAD 83, Planar Units to Meters, and
Zone to 12 (114W - 108W Northern Hemisphere)
6. Select OK
7. Set the vertical projection to Local and the vertical units to Meters
8. Select OK
9. Select the Get data tool
WMS main window.

located at the lower left corner of the

10. Draw a rectangle with the mouse pointer around the jpg image that
you opened previously. This will open the Data Service options dialog.
Select the Terraserver aerial photo option as shown in the following
figure.

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate System

1-7

11. Select OK and browse folder C:\Training\Personal\Images and enter

name provoTSaerial and click Save.
12. Select Yes to create the files.
13. WMS will suggest a suitable resolution for the image based upon the
size and coverage of the image. You can change the resolution, but
here you should use the suggested resolution. Click OK.
14. This will take a moment for WMS to use the web services and
download the data from the server.
15. Once done, you will be prompted to build pyramids, select Yes.
16. You can see both the topo map and the aerial photo listed on the
project explorer.
17. Right click on the provoTSaerial.tsaerial.web item in the project
explorer and select Set Transparency.
18. Move the slider to 40% and click OK. You should be able to see the
aerial photo on top of the topo map.

1.6

Registering Images
Sometimes you will not be able to obtain a geotiff image or an image with a
world file. In this case, you can read a background image from common image
sources such as scanned paper maps, Google Maps, or Google Earth and georeference the image manually. To do this, you need to know the X and Y
coordinates of three points on the image. These coordinates can be in a
projected or geographic (latitude-longitude) system. Before you scan your

1-8 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

paper image, or download an image from the Internet, you should mark the
three points you have selected so you can easily find the points on the image
when you register the image in WMS.

1.6.1 Downloading image from Google Maps

As an example we will see how an image can be imported from Google maps
and get it georeferenced so that the image can be used in WMS.
1. Open a web browser and go to http://maps.google.com/ . Turn the
Satellite map option on.
2. On the top right corner of the map click New.

3. Enable the LatLng Marker tool and select Save Changes.

4. Enter Park City, UT in the search box and click Search Maps. This will
zoom into the area where our watershed is located.

5. Right click approximately near the locations shown in the following

figure and select Drop LatLng Marker. This puts the coordinate marker
at each of the locations you specify. See the following figure.

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate System

1-9

Point 2

Point 1
Point 3
6. You may zoom in more to have a higher resolution image but make
sure that all the three markers are within the visible extent.
7. Now press the Print Screen key on the keyboard. Open the standard
Microsoft Paint program from the Start menu on your computer and
paste the image into Paint. You may want to crop only the portion of
the image you need using the Paint program by selecting the area of the
image you are interested in, selecting Edit | Copy, selecting File | New,
and then selecting Edit | Paste.
8. Once done, save the image as C:\Training\Personal\Images\
ParkCity.jpg.
9. If you have trouble downloading the image, there is one already
downloaded in C:\Training\Images\ ParkCity.jpg.

1.6.2 Geo-referencing images in WMS

You will use the Google Maps image that you downloaded for Park City and
define the coordinates so it is in the same projection as your hydrologic model.
1. To overlay the image with a hydrologic model, first open the WMS
project file for Park City at C:\Training\Images\Baseproj.wms.
2. Open the image you downloaded in a previous step. This image should
be located at C:\Training\Personal\Images\ParkCity.jpg. If you had
trouble capturing and saving the image, there is an image already saved
at C:\Training\Images\ParkCity.jpg.
3. When reading the image, click Yes to build pyramids.
The image will appear in the Register Image dialog. The three
latitude/longitude markers are also displayed. There are also three + symbols
with the numbers 1, 2, and 3 by them (much larger and visible). You need to

1-10 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

place the numbered plus signs over the tip of the place markers and enter the
corresponding coordinates in the fields below to register the image.
4. Use the Point Selection tool
to drag each + symbol over the
closest lat/lon coordinates as shown in the following figure. You may
wish to place the symbols close and then zoom

in on the area for

more accuracy. Once you zoom in there is a Frame tool

that you
can use to re-center the image so that you can zoom in on another
registration point. Do your best to move each plus mark over the tip of
the pins in the image.

The coordinates for the three points are known in geographic

(latitude/longitude) coordinates. We will register using these coordinates and
then convert to the projected UTM coordinates after reading the image. In
order to properly register, the coordinates must be decimal degrees.
5. Using the values shown in the respective LatLng markers, enter the
appropriate x (longitude) and y (latitude) values for the three points.
Note that longitude values west of the prime meridian should be
entered as negative. If you enter the values as specified on the
markers (+/-), your coordinates will be correct.
Also notice that Longitude or Easting is the X-coordinate and Latitude or
Northing is the Y-Coordinate.
6. When you have correctly entered the three coordinates select OK in the
Register Image dialog

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate System

1-11

The data is not showing up because the coordinate system of the delineated
watershed does not match with the coordinates of the image you just registered.
Do the steps in the following section to learn how to convert the coordinate
system of the image so the image overlays the watershed.

1.6.3 Converting the Coordinates to UTM

Geographic coordinates are commonly used on maps because they provide a
global reference for any point in the world. However, for engineering work a
planimetric (XY or Cartesian) coordinate system is necessary. The Universal
Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection is a commonly used coordinate system.
We will convert the coordinate system from geographic to UTM.
1. Right-click on the ParkCity
image icon in the Project
Explorer and choose the
Coordinate Conversion option
2. Select the Global Projection
radio button in the Object
Projection section in the
Reproject Object dialog
3. Select
Geographic
(Latitude/Longitude) from the
Projection drop down box
4. Select NAD 83 from the Datum drop down box and ARC DEGREES
under the Planar Units.

5. Select OK
6. Set the Vertical System projection to NAVD 88(US) and units to
Meters
7. Toggle on the Specify check box in the Project Projection in the
Reproject Object dialog
8. Select the Global Projection radio button

1-12 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

9. Set Projection to UTM, Datum to NAD 83, Planar Units to Meters, and
Zone to 12 (114W - 108 W Northern Hemisphere)
10. Select OK
11. Set the Vertical System projection to NAVD 88(US) and units to
Meters
12. Select OK
There might be some distortion in the image as it is converted from geographic
to UTM because a degree of longitude has a shorter distance the farther north
you are, but this is normal. Any measurements taken or data created from the
image will have XY distance units of meters.

1.6.4 Exporting a World File

Once you have georeferenced an image, you can then export a world file so
that you can use it for future use.
1. Right-click on the ParkCity image in the Project Explorer and select
Export World File.
If you save the world file with the same name as the original JPEG
image but with a .jpw extension. If you export a world file with the
same prefix as the JPG image, the image will open be georeferenced
next time you open it. However, if a world file is saved with a different
name, you will have to import the world file after reading the JPEG
image. We will now see how world files work.
2. Save the file as C:\Training\Personal\Images\ParkCity.jpwthe
WMS default file name. Click Save.
3. In the WMS project explorer, delete the ParkCity image by rightclicking on the image and selecting Delete.
4. Select File | Open and select the file C:\Training\Personal\Images\
ParkCity.jpg. If asked, go ahead and build pyramids. Now the image
opens as a georeferenced image.

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate System

1-13

Note: As discussed above, if the image and the world file are at different
locations, if they have different names, or if there is no world file, opening an
image will display the Image Registration dialog.
If you see the Image Registration dialog but you already have a world file at a
different location or with a different name, click the Import World File button at
the bottom of the Registration dialog. Browse to and open the world file and
click OK. The image will show up as a georeferenced image.

1.7 World Files

Many image files do not contain georeferencing information. For example,
JPEG files do not have georeferencing tags in the file like TIFF images may
have. Most organizations that make images available distribute world files
containing the georeferencing information along with the image files. These
world files usually have the same prefix as the corresponding image file, but
with the extension .tfw for TIFF images (for JPEG files, the extension is .jpw,
.jgw, or .jpgw). If you download a world file and are asked to supply a name
for the file, use the same prefix as the image file with a .jpw or a tfw
extension and WMS will automatically recognize the world file and register the
associated image.
Use the following procedure to view the information contained in the world
file:
1. Select File | Edit File
2. Browse and open C:\Training\Personal\Images\ParkCity.jpw
Because there is a world file named ParkCity.jpw, the image is automatically
registered after reading the JPEG image. If WMS does not find a world file for
an image, you would have the option of importing the world file from within
the registration dialog.

1.8 GIS Shapefiles

GIS shapefiles are another data source frequently used in developing models
with WMS. In this section you will see how commonly used shape files for
land use and soil data can be obtained and used in WMS.

1.8.1 Geospatial data acquisition

There are several locations where you can obtain various types of geospatial
data. The XMS wiki at http://www.xmswiki.com has a special geospatial data
acquisition page which has tutorials and tips on downloading these data from
the most convenient sources for use in WMS, SMS or GMS. In this section,
you will download a shapefile with land use data and open it in WMS.

1-14 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

1. Start a web browser and type the following link into the address bar:
http://www.xmswiki.com/xms/GSDA:GSDA. This will take
you to the Geo-Spatial Data Acquisition Home page.
2. Under Surface Characteristics, select Land Use.
3. Select the WebGIS link.

4. Under Land Use select Shapefile (UTM)

5. For this exercise, you will get the land use data for Omaha. In the US
map, select Nebraska.
6. Click on List Counties Alphabetically

7. In the list that displays, select Douglas County

8. Select Omaha on the top of the list.

Loading DEMs, Contour Options, Images, and Coordinate System

1-15

9. Save ZIP file archive on your computer.

10. Outside of WMS, browse to the folder where you saved the Omaha.zip
file and extract the files to C:\Training\Personal\Images.
11. In WMS, delete your data by selecting File | New.
12. Before reading any data, you should set your coordinate system by
setting your coordinate system. Select Edit | Current Coordinates to
set your current coordinates.
13. Select the Global Projection option.
14. Select Set Projection.
15. Set Projection to UTM, Datum to NAD 83, Planar Units to Meters, and
Zone to 15 (114W - 108W Northern Hemisphere).
16. Select OK.
17. Set the vertical projection to NAVD 88(US) and the vertical units to
Meters.
18. Select OK.
19. Open the aerial photo covering the region surrounding Omaha at the
following location: C:\Training\Images\Omaha\AerialPhoto.jpg.
Select Yes if asked to generate image pyramids.
20. In the project explorer, right click on GIS Layers and select Add
Shapefile Data
21. Browse and open the land use shapefile that you downloaded
(C:|Training\Personal\Images\omaha\omaha.shp)
22. Now you can see the land use shape file overlaying the aerial photo for
the city of Omaha.
23. Right click omaha.shp on the project explorer and select Open
Attribute Table. This will open the attribute table for the land use shape
file. You should be able to see LUCODE as one of the attributes.
LUCODE is the USGS land use code. You will be using this attribute
to define overland flow roughness values and other surface
characteristics in later tutorials.

1-16 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

24. This shapefile is in the GIS module of WMS. To use this shapefile for
hydrologic and hydraulic calculations, you need to convert it to data in
the map module of WMS. You will do this in a later section.
25. Do not close WMS, we will keep working with this data in the
following section.

1.8.2 Geospatial data processing

Some of the GIS data are not 'ready to use' like the land use shapefile we used
in the previous section. We need to process these data before they can be used.
In this section we will see how some of these tools can be used in WMS with a
soils shapefile.
We will open a SSURGO soil shapefile for Omaha and process it so that it can
be used for defining infiltration and other soil-derived properties required for
GSSHA models.
1. Right click GIS Layers in the project explorer. Browse to and open the
file C:\Training\Images\Omaha\Soil\Spatial\soilmu_a_ne055.shp.
2. When the soil shapefile is read into WMS, the projection file
associated with the file is read and the coordinates of the data are
converted from Geographic (Lat/Lon) to the current coordinate system
(UTM Zone 15).
3. Right click on soilmu_a_ne055.shp and open its attribute table. In the
attribute table, notice that there are only a few properties associated
with each soil polygon, but there are no recognizable soil attributes.
To get the soil properties associated with each soil polygon, you will
need to read these properties from tables included with the SSURGO
data.
4. To read the properties, close the attribute table and right click on
soilmu_a_ne055.shp in the project explorer. Select Join NRCS Data.
The soil attributes associated with the soil polygons are stored as separate
tables. Selecting the Join NRCS Data command allows you to link these tables
to your shapefile so you can use them.
5. In the Join SSURGO Data dialog select both check boxes and leave the
Soil Group and Soil Texture fields as they are. See the following
figure:

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1-17

6. Click OK.
7. Right click on the soils shape file under GIS Layers and open the
attribute table again. This time you will see that several soils
properties have been added as attributes.

1.9 Mapping Shapefiles to WMS coverages

The SSURGO shapefile that we processed in the previous step is still in a GIS
format that WMS cannot use directly. In order to use it the polygons
overlapping our watershed need to be copied to a WMS Soil Type coverage.
This is done from the GIS module.
1. In the project explorer (left side of WMS main window), right click on
Coverages and select New Coverage

2. Select the coverage type to be Soil Type and click OK. This will create
a new soil type coverage in the project explorer. Note that WMS
creates a Drainage coverage automatically as soon as WMS is opened.
When you create a GSSHA grid, the drainage coverage is converted to
a GSSHA coverage.

1-18 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

3. Click on the new soil type coverage in the Explorer window to make it
active.
4. Click on the soilmu_a_ne055.shp (under GIS layers) to make it active
and change to the GIS module as we are going to map the data from
the soil shapefile to the soil type coverage.
5. Turn off the check box next to the omaha.shp shapefile you read in a
previous section. This is the land use shapefile and you do not want
the data in this shapefile included in your soil type coverage.
6. Click on the Select shapes tool
and drag a rectangle around a
watershed area you are interested in to select all land use polygons that
overlap your watershed. Do not worry if you select polygons that are
outside the watershed boundary, WMS will use the watershed
boundary to clip the land use polygons.
7. Select Mapping | Shapes > Feature objects, click Next and make
sure that the fields are mapped properly. For example, the TEXTURE
field should be mapped to Texture, HYDGRP should be mapped to
SCS soil type, and so on. Click Next and click Finish.
8. The selected soil polygons are now converted to a coverage in the
WMS map module and saved in the WMS map file format. You no
longer need the GIS data once it is mapped to a coverage. You may
delete the soil shape file under GIS layers (Right click on
soilmu_a_ne055.shp and select delete).

Watershed Delineation using DEMs and 2D Grid Generation

CHAPTER

Watershed Delineation using DEMs

and 2D Grid Generation

2.1 Initiating WMS

1. Close WMS and open a new instance of WMS.

2.2 Downloading and Importing DEM Data

DEM data can be obtained from a variety of sources. If you already have a
DEM stored on your computer, you can just open it in WMS using the File |
Open command. Alternatively, you can download DEM data from the USGS
seamless server (http://seamless.usgs.gov/)
WMS has a web services tool that links directly to the USGS seamless data
server. This tool can help you download DEM data. We will use the web
services tool in this workshop.
1. Click on the Hydrologic Modeling Wizard
corner of the WMS main window.

button at the lower left

2. In the Hydrologic Modeling Wizard dialog, browse for the folder

C:\Training\Personal\WatershedDel and enter the project name
JudysBranch.wms.

2-2 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

3. Click the Save button.

4. Click Next
5. Click the Define button under the Project Coordinate System. Select
the Global Projection option (Set Projection if this is already selected)
and enter the following information and click OK. Select NAVD
88(US) for your vertical projection and Meters for your units and then
select OK again.

6. Now, select the Define button to define the project bounds. This opens
a map locator window and lets you navigate to your project area.
7. Maximize the Virtual Earth Map Locator window and select Map
Options | Show Locator Tool. This will show a search field in the
window.
8. In Where field, enter Glen Carbon, IL and click on Search button.

9. The map will show Glen Carbon Crossing approximately at the center
of the window. Zoom in little more. Compare your display with the
following figure.

Watershed Delineation using DEMs and 2D Grid Generation

2-3 REFER

10. Click OK. WMS will now extract the bounding coordinates for the
extent of the display of this map. You can see the coordinates listed in
the wizard window as shown in the following figure.

11. Click Next and make sure that the Use web services option is toggled
on.
12. Click Next and select NED 1/3 Arc Sec Data and TerraServer aerial
photo. Then click Download Data From Web.

2-4 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

13. WMS will download both the DEM and background aerial photo for
the watershed (Note: There are times when the web services may be
unavailable so if WMS does not download the data directly you could
download the data outside of WMS. You can download the DEM data
from the USGS at http://seamless.usgs.gov and the aerial photo from
MSR maps at http://msrmaps.com. Alternatively, if you were unable to
download the DEM and/or image, you can find a copy in
C:\Training\RawData\JudysBranch\DEM).
14. Once the DEM downloads, the Importing NED GridFloat File dialog
will open. Select the Enclose All DEM(s) button and click OK.

Watershed Delineation using DEMs and 2D Grid Generation

2-5 REFER

15. WMS will now download the aerial photo from TerraServer. If
prompted, select Yes to generate pyramids.
16. After the DEM and the image have finished downloading, you can
move the Hydrologic Modeling Wizard to the side and you should see
both the DEM contours and the aerial photograph in the WMS graphics
window.
17. Close the Hydrologic Modeling Wizard dialog.

2.3 Computing the Flow Directions and Flow Accumulations

1. To delineate a watershed you should be in the Drainage Module. Click
to select the drainage module.
2. Select DEM | Compute TOPAZ Flow Data and Click OK twice.
TOPAZ will compute the flow direction and accumulation and infer
the streams based on the DEM data.
3. Click on Close after computations are complete. It will probably
take a few seconds to finish, but you can know it is done when the last
line of text in the model wrapper reads Normal Program
Termination.

2-6 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

4. You can now see lines representing areas of flow accumulation above a
threshold value on the display. These are the areas where flow
accumulates on the DEM, and these areas may represent stream
channels.
5. You need to create an outlet point to delineate a watershed. Select the
Create Outlet Point Button
. Locate the point where you want the
outlet for the watershed to be. See the following figure for the
approximate location of the outlet (you can use the middle scroll button
of the mouse to zoom in or out).

Outlet

2.4 Delineating the Watershed

1. Select DEM | DEM -> Stream Arcs. Make sure the stream threshold
value is set to 1 sq. mile. Click OK.
2. Select DEM | Define Basins
3. Select DEM | Basins -> Polygons
4. Select DEM | Compute Basin Data. Click OK.
5. Click on the Frame button
. Your watershed should look
somewhat like the following figure.

Watershed Delineation using DEMs and 2D Grid Generation

2-7 REFER

6. Save your WMS project by selecting File | Save.

Save it as
C:/Training/Personal/ WatershedDel /JudysBase.wms. Click Yes to
save the image files in the project directory. Note that at this point you
have a completed watershed and you can always open this saved
project and start over with the following steps for creating your
GSSHA model if you make a mistake.

2.5 2D grid generation

To develop a GSSHA model, you will need to generate a two-dimensional
finite difference grid.
1. Switch to the Map Module
2.

Click on the Select Feature Polygon Tool

and right click
anywhere within the watershed polygon. Then select Create Grid in
the popup menu that appears.

3. Select Yes to confirm that you are creating a GSSHA grid.

4. Make sure the Base Cell Size option is checked on and enter 50m as
the cell size and click OK.
5. Click OK to interpolate grid cell elevations from the DEM, and select
NO when prompted if you want to delete the DEM data.

2-8 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

6. You can now see grid cells covering the watershed. Notice that under
the Coverages in the data tree, the Drainage coverage has been now
changed to GSSHA.
7. Do NOT save the WMS project because the GSSHA grid information
and model are saved to a GSSHA project file instead of to a WMS
project.
8. Switch to the 2D grid Module
file...
9. Save
the
project
JudysBase.prj

as

and select GSSHA|Save Project

C:/Training/Personal/WatershedDel/

2.6 Workshop Tasks

1. You can delineate a watershed in your area of interest by following the steps described in this
tutorial.
2. If you already have a DEM for your area, open it in WMS (you can skip the section on
downloading and importing DEM data).

Creating Feature Objects and Mapping their Attributes to the 2D Grid

CHAPTER
found.

Error! Reference source not

Creating Feature Objects and Mapping

their Attributes to the 2D Grid

In order to develop a grid into a GSSHA model, several attributes such as surface
roughness, infiltration, porosity, moisture content, and others need to be defined for
each cell. This tutorial focuses on the development of these hydrologic parameters
for GSSHA grids using commonly available land use and soil GIS data.
Since GSSHA uses spatially varying parameters, it would be extremely time
consuming to enter such parameters for each grid cell one by one. You will define
the parameters for each cell by aggregating cells of similar soil and/or land use
properties using Index Maps. If there are only 5-6 different soils in a watershed
then you would define infiltration properties for each of these soils in a table. This
is much less time consuming than having to define the values separately for each
cell. In this tutorial you will learn how these Index Maps are created in WMS.
1. We will continue working with the Judys Branch gridded model that you
saved in the previous workshop.
2. To open the GSSHA project, switch to the 2D Grid Module
and select
GSSHA | Open Project File.... You can also select File | Open to open a
GSSHA project file.
3. If you have saved the project in the previous workshop, open the project
from C:/Training/ Personal/WatershedDel/JudysBase.prj.
If you were not able to save the
C:/Training/WatershedDel/JudysBase.prj.

project,

you

can

open

3-2 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

4. Select GSSHA | Save Project File... and save the project with new a name
as C:/Training/Personal/FeatureObjects/JudysParam.prj so the original
project is not overwritten.

3.1 Mapping GIS shape files to WMS Coverage

A previous workshop described how land use and soil GIS data are obtained and
read into WMS. If there are any questions, refer to Section 1.8.1.
In previous workshops, you learned about various WMS data types and their
sources. In this section, you will use these data to set up GSSHA modeling
parameters.

3.1.1 Adding Land Use Coverage

1. In the project explorer, right click on the GIS Layers folder and select Add
Shapefile Data.

2. Browse to C:/Training/RawData/JudysBranch/Landuse and open

Belleville.shp and StLouis.shp. These are the two land use shapefiles that
provide coverage for our watershed.
Two shapefile layers are imported and added to the project explorer under GIS
layers. The land use extent should overlay your watershed. Your project should
now look like the following figure.

3. Right click the shapefiles and view the attribute tables. You should be able
to see the USGS land use code (LUCODE).
4. In order to use the land use data, the polygons overlapping our watershed
need to be copied to a WMS land use coverage. This is done from the GIS
module.

Error! Reference source not found.

3-3

5. In the project explorer, right click on Coverages and select New Coverage.

6. Set the coverage type to be Land use and click OK. This will create a new
land use coverage in the project explorer.
7. Click on the new Land use coverage in the Explorer window to make it
active.
8. Select either Belleville.shp or StLouis.shp (under GIS layers) to activate the
GIS module.
9. Click on the Select shapes tool
(should be selected by default) and
drag a rectangle around your watershed area to select all land use polygons
that overlap this basin.
10. Select Mapping | Shapes > Feature objects, click Next and make sure
that LUCODE is mapped to Land use. Click Next and click Finish.
11. WMS no longer needs the GIS data once it is mapped to a coverage in the
map module. You may now delete the shape files under GIS layers (Right
click on the shapefiles Belleville.shp and Stlouis.shp and select delete).

3.1.2 Adding Soil Type Coverage

1. In the project explorer, right click on GIS Layers folder and select Add
Shapefile Data.

2. Browse to the following SSURGO soil shapefile and open it:

C:\Training\RawData\JudysBranch\SSURGOSoil\Raw\Spatial\soilmu_a
_il119.shp.

3-4 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

3. This data is as it was downloaded and needs to be processed to join the soil
attributes.
4. Join the attributes for the shapefile you added. To do this, right click the
shapefile (soilmu_a_il119.shp) and select Join NRCS Data. Turn on the
options to Fill blank values and Compute hydraulic conductivity. Refer
to section 1.8.2 of this tutorial for details about joining a SSURGO soil
shapefiles soil types with other SSURGO attributes.
5. Create a new coverage and change the type to Soil Type.
6. Map the polygons from the soil shapefile that overlap the watershed to the
newly created soil type coverage. (Similar to how you mapped land use
data, see section 3.1.1)
7. Once you have mapped the soil polygons delete the SSURGO shapefile
(soilmu_a_il119.shp) from the project explorer.
8. You may now turn off the display of the Land Use and Soil Type coverages
by turning off the toggle boxes next to these coverages in the project
explorer. Make sure that the display of the GSSHA coverage and 2D Grid
Data are turned on.
9. Click the Frame button

3.2 Creating Index Maps

WMS has an interface to automatically generate an index map. In this section, you
will create uniform, land use, and soil index maps.

3.2.1 Creating Uniform Index Map

1.
2.
3.
4.

Switch to the 2-D Grid module by clicking the grid module

button.
Select GSSHA | Maps
Click the Data Calculator button.
In the Data Calculator dialog enter 1 for the Expression and enter Uniform
for the Result field. Check on the Index Map toggle and click Compute.

Error! Reference source not found.

3-5

5. Click Done.
This will create an index map that has the same ID value (1 in this case) for
each grid cell. A uniform index map is used to define parameters which are
uniform over the watershed domain. For example, if you assume uniform
overland roughness in the watershed, then a uniform index map can be used to
define the roughness for the whole watershed.

3.2.2 Creating a Land Use Index Map

3-6 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

1. In the GSSHA Maps dialog, select Land Use for Input Coverage (1). Enter
the name Land Use for the Index Map Name.

2. Click on the Coverages -> Index Map button.

3. You should now see colored grid cells. Each color represents a different
land use code.

3.2.3 Creating a Soil Type Index Map

1. In the GSSHA Maps dialog, select Soil Type coverage for Input Coverage
(1). Enter the name Soil Type for Index Map Name.
2. Click on the Coverages -> Index Map button.
3. Click Done to close GSSHA Maps dialog.
4. At this point your project should have three index maps and the project
explorer will look something like the following figure:

Error! Reference source not found.

3-7

3.3 Exploring Mapping Tables

After index maps are created, land use or soil characteristics can be entered into
GSSHA Map Tables. Map tables are tables of hydrologic and hydraulic parameters
for all possible values in a certain index map.
1. Select GSSHA | Map Tables. This will bring up the GSSHA Map Table
Editor dialog.
2. The Roughness tab is selected by default. Currently, this tab does not have
any information but we can use one the index maps to generate mapping
table IDs.
3. Select Uniform from the dropdown box for Using Index Map field and
click Generate IDs. This will create one Land Use ID field. If you recall
the step when you created Uniform index map, you entered a value of 1 for
all the grid cells. Since each cell in the index map has a value of 1, you
only need to enter the roughness parameters for this single value in the
mapping table. Using this index map for your Roughness IDs assumes a
uniform surface roughness for the entire watershed. In the real world,
however, the surface roughness varies over the watershed domain. If you
want to create a GSSHA model that uses distributed surface roughness
based on land use IDs, you will have to use another map such as the Land
use index map to create the Roughness mapping table IDs.
4. Select Land Use from the dropdown box for the Using Index Map field and
click Generate IDs. Select Yes if prompted to delete existing IDs. This will
create mapping table IDs for each unique land use ID that existed in the
land use shape file (or now exists in the land use index map).

3-8 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

5. You could now enter the descriptions and roughness values for each of
these IDs. You will see in the following section how to read a file
containing the descriptions and default roughness values, so there is no
need to enter the descriptions and roughness values at this time. The IDs
seen in the spreadsheet are USGS Standard Land use codes. The USGS
classification table helps you identify each land use type based on its ID. A
portion of this table is shown below:

6. Map tables are created for other hydrologic and hydraulic characteristics of
a watershed using different index maps. You may switch through each of
the different tabs in the GSSHA Map Table Editor dialog. When selecting
some tabs, you will be prompted to change job control settings. For
example, if you have not turned infiltration on but if you select the
Infiltration tab in the mapping table editor, WMS prompts you if you want
to turn the infiltration on. Select No when these messages appear.
7. Select Done in the GSSHA Map Table Editor to close the window.

3.3.1 Understanding the Mapping (.cmt) File

The parameter values you entered in the GSSHA Map Table Editor dialog are saved
in a mapping table file in the GSSHA project directory that has a *.cmt extension.
GSSHA uses the .cmt file as a lookup table to find defined values for GSSHA
parameters for corresponding index map IDs.
1. Select File | Edit File in WMS. Browse and open C:\Training\ gssha.cmt

Error! Reference source not found.

3-9

2. This will open the sample .cmt file in a text editor. You can go through
different sections of this file and see how the parameters for each index
map value are stored in a .cmt file. The roughness values for each USGS
land use in this file are obtained from standard text books.
Similarly, the infiltration parameters in this file were obtained from Rawls
and Brakenseik's table (Rawls, W. J., Brakensiek, D. L., and Miller, N.
(1983). Green-Ampt infiltration parameters from soils data, ASCE J.
Hyd. Engr. 109(1), 62-70.). This table provides Green and Ampt
infiltration parameters based on soil textures. You imported soil texture
while processing the SSURGO soil data in a previous section so you can
use this texture to derive infiltration parameters.
The USGS land use files and SSURGO soils files use consistent IDs and
texture classifications. To avoid defining the roughness and infiltration
values each time you create a new GSSHA model, we created a master
mapping file from the literature that has roughness values defined for each
USGS land use code and infiltration parameters for each SSURGO soil
texture. This table can be found in C:\Training\gssha.cmt. These values
are not intended to be absolute for every project, but the values define a
reasonable starting point.
3. It is important to note that WMS creates a .cmt file each time you create a
GSSHA model. This .cmt file is saved in the same folder where your
GSSHA project is saved. However, this .cmt file does not have all the
parameters listed as you saw in the master .cmt file found in
C:\Training\gssha.cmt. WMS will save out only those parameters for the
IDs that are present in your index maps.
4. Close the .cmt file.
5. Instead of typing the parameters for roughness, infiltration, or other
mapping table parameters, you can import a .cmt file that already has these
values listed like the one you just viewed. To import the gssha.cmt file,
select GSSHA | Map Tables. Click on the Import Table button in the
GSSHA Map Table Editor dialog and browse for the
C:\Training\gssha.cmt file. Open this file and notice the values in the
mapping table editor are populated with the values from the .cmt file.
Click Done to close the GSSHA Map Table Editor dialog.

3.3.2 Combined Index Map Concept

The values of infiltration parameters obtained from Rawls and Brakenseik's table
are for bare earth conditions where the soils are assumed to be exposed. But in a
natural watershed, the land cover will change the infiltration characteristics of the
soil. For example, sand with grassland as land use will have significantly different
infiltration characteristics from sand covered with crops or asphalt.
Because of this, it is advisable to create a combined index map which generates
unique IDs for each different land use-soil type combination within the watershed.
Once you have your soil and land use data mapped to respective WMS coverages, a
combined index map can be generated.

3-10 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

1. In the 2D Grid Module, select GSSHA | Maps to open the GSSHA Maps
dialog. Then check the toggle to use the second input coverage (turn on
Input coverage (2)).
2. Select Soil Type for the first input with Texture as the attribute and Land
use for the second input with ID as the attribute.
3. Change the name to Combined and create an index map by selecting the
Coverages->Index Map button.
4. This combined index map can now be used in the GSSHA Map Table
Editor to generate infiltration parameter IDs.
One thing to note here that when you import a standard .cmt file to fill in the
infiltration parameters, the parameter values are obtained from Rawls and
Brakenseik's table and, as we already discussed, these values are for the bare earth
condition. You will have to manually adjust the parameters during calibration if
you are using a combined index map to generate infiltration parameters.

3.4 Saving a GSSHA Project

There are two different commands to save files as you create a GSSHA model in
WMS. If you select File | Save or use the save button
you will save a WMS
project. This does not save the index map or the GSSHA project. Once you have
created a 2D grid, you should save your GSSHA project using the Save Project
File command in the GSSHA menu. This command saves a GSSHA project and
all the data important for running a GSSHA model. It is usually a good idea to
save your project using File | Save before creating your 2D grid so you have your
pre-GSSHA model saved and then save your project using GSSHA | Save Project
File after creating your 2D grid so all the necessary data for running a GSSHA
model are saved with the project.
1. To save a GSSHA project, switch to 2D Grid module
and select
GSSHA | Save Project File.
2. It is possible that you might have more than one GSSHA model based on
the same grid. This is demonstrated in later scenario modeling workshops.
In the situation when you have more than one model, when you choose
GSSHA | Save Project File, the GSSHA project which is currently selected
in your project explorer will be the project that is saved.
3. As an alternative you can save a GSSHA project by right clicking on the
GSSHA model in the project explorer you wish to save and selecting Save
Project File. See the following figure.

Error! Reference source not found.

3-11

In the above figure, there are four GSSHA projects namely Infiltration,
GSSHAModel2, GSSHAModel3 and GSSHAModel4. The screenshot shows the
saving of GSSHAModel4.

3.5 Task
In this workshop you learned how an index map is created using WMS. You
learned that an index map can be created using the data calculator (as in the
uniform index map example), using land use and soil type data, and using a
combination of land use and soil data.
This section gives you a few more tips about editing index maps.

3.5.1 Copying an index map

There might be some situations when you need a copy of an index map, such as
when you want to preserve an index map generated from land use but you want to
change individual cells in the index map.

3-12 GSSHA Modeling Using WMS Volume 1

1. In the 2D Grid Module, open the GSSHA Maps dialog (GSSHA | Maps
menu item).
2. Open the Data Calculator by clicking the Data Calculator button.
3. In the data calculator, double click the index map you want to copy. Doing
this will put text representing the index map in the Expression field.
4. Check the Index Map toggle on and enter an appropriate name.
5. Click the Compute button. This will create a copy of the index map you
selected.
6. You should see your index map added to the project explorer.

7. In the figure above, the data calculator is set to create a copy of the Land
Use index map. Close both the data calculator and the GSSHA Maps
windows by clicking on the Done buttons in each dialog.

3.5.2 Editing an Index Map

Sometimes you will have to modify an existing index map. Editing an index map
cell means assigning it a different ID (overriding what was mapped from a
coverage). For example, you have a land use index map but a certain portion of the
land has been converted to a built up area. This land use change is not reflected in
your land use index map. You can modify the index map for a few cells to
incorporate the change.
1. In the project explorer, select the land use index map you copied in the
previous step.
2. Select the Select Grid Cell Tool
and drag a box to select some grid
cells you wish to change.
3. In the WMS properties window you can edit the IDs of the selected cells.
Go ahead and assign the Index Map ID to be 100.

Error! Reference source not found.

3-13

4. Changing the Index Map IDs for the selected cells will update the index
map. Because these cells have new index map IDs, they will now display
as a different color.

Grid cells selected

(Highlighted in red)

Cell Index map IDs

shown in the Properties
Window
When the cell IDs are
changed, the index map is
updated and the cells are
given a new color

5. If the area where you want to change IDs is not rectangular, then with the
Select Grid Cell Tool
selected, you can press and hold Shift Key in the
Keyboard and click on the cells you want to change.
6. Alternatively, you can select grid cells with a polygon. Select Edit | Select
with Polygon. Then draw the polygon to include the cells you want to
select.