Open Source Software for Preprocessing GIS Data for Hydrological Models

General

• General Information

  Introduction

  For many studies models are used or developed. During modelling courses not much attention is paid to the preprocessing of input data and parameters needed for the models. A lot of open source software is available for this purpose. Besides desktop tools with graphical user interfaces, scripting is very useful for processing large datasets and timeseries. With the skills learned in this course you will be able to more efficiently process your data and setup and improve your models.
  
  

  For whom?

  The course is designed for professionals (engineers and scientists) active in the water/environmental sector, especially those involved in planning and management of water systems as well as numerical modelling. Pre-requisites are a basic knowledge of computing and water related topics.
  
  

  Learning Objectives

  After this course you will be able to: 
  Understand the basic concepts of GIS Raster, vector, projections, geospatial analysis Use a GIS for:
  

  • Thematic mapping
  • Basic data processing and editing
  • Basic geoprocessing and analysis
  • DEM processing and catchment delineation
  • Find open source software and open data

  
  

   

  >> Other courses

  This course material is provided as Open Courseware without support and interaction with lecturers. Only exercises are provided. For full lectures and support from lecturers, please register online for one of the related short courses:
  

  • Online QGIS course with support and official QGIS certificate
  • Data acquisition, preprocessing and modelling using SWAT
  • Data acquisition, preprocessing and modelling using PCRaster Python
  • Data acquisition, preprocessing and modelling using HEC-RAS
  • Open source software for preprocessing GIS data for hydrological models
  • GIS, SDI and modelling courses can also be provided as tailor made trainings for your organisation. Please contact me for more information.

  
  

  References

   Software
  The free and open source software (FOSS) used in this course are: 
  

  • QGIS version 3.4 (newer versions have not been tested)
  • GDAL QGIS is a desktop GIS similar to the commercial ArcGIS software. GDAL is the Geodata Abstraction Layer, a set of open source tools that can be used to convert between GIS formats and to reproject data in a standardized way. GDAL commands can also be used in scripts. During the course basic scripting skills will be acquired: shell scripts and the Python programming language.

  Books
  The following books are suggested to support the course:
  

  • P.A. Burrough, R.A. McDonnell & C.D. Lloyd, Principals of Geographical Information Systems, Oxford University Press, 3rd Edition, 2015
  • A. Graser, Learning QGIS Third Edition, Packt Publishing, 2016
  • A. Graser & G.N. Peterson, QGIS Map Design - Second Edition, Locate Press, 2018
  • K. Menke, Discover QGIS 3.x, Locate Press, 2019
    

  
  

  Lecturer

  Course materials are prepared by Dr. Johannes van der Kwast, Senior Lecturer in Ecohydrological Modelling, Water Science and Engineering Department, IHE Delft Institute for water education.
  
  

  Acknowledgements

  The course materials have been developed for UNESCO-IHE MSc participants and for tailor made trainings for water companies in Uganda. 
  These trainings were financed by the Vitens Evides International (VEI) Fund. 
  Special thanks to Jan Hoogendoorn and Jonne Kleijer, GIS experts from VEI, who contributed to these exercises. 
  
  
  The Adjumani dataset in exercise 7 has been developed by VEI and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) in Uganda. I thank them for permission to use it for educational purposes. 
  
  Some illustrations were taken from A Gentle Introduction to GIS and from the PCRaster documentation. I tried to reference the sources and respect the licenses of the used sources. Please contact me if I missed any.