Research and Development Office

Geospatial Integration and Visualization Supporting HydoGeoSphere (HGS) Implementation Research and Integration Utilizing Geospatial Tools

Project ID: 5832
Principal Investigator: Lorri Peltz-Lewis
Research Topic: Water Resource Data Analysis
Funded Fiscal Years: 2007
Keywords: None

Research Question

Integration of geospatial tools to support data preparation, model input, and visualization of model output from the HGS model is necessary to support water supply, reliability, availability, drainage and quality within many modeling efforts in the Central Valley, California. Geospatial technologies are necessary to integrate detailed geospatial data into the HGS model, including three-dimensional (3D) geologic data, and to provide for visualization of model results. The questions addressed include:

* Can existing geospatial software and tools be used to provide model integration, analysis, and visualization?

* What database issues need to be resolved when using complex detailed geospatial data in various storage formats?

* How can geospatial databases be designed and developed to support multi-use needs within Reclamation`s offices?

* What limitations and issues need to be resolved to integration geospatial technologies into the HGS model?

Need and Benefit

In the management of California State Water Project and the Federal Central Valley Project (CVP), there is an increasing emphasis on problems that require conjunctive analyses of surface/subsurface hydrologic and water-quality processes. Major issues of concern to CALFED (five Federal agencies and five California State agencies) include water supply reliability, water quality, ecosystem health, and impact of climate change on California's water resources.

The current widely used model, CALSIM-II, is not appropriate for complex water supply. HGS provides a fully-integrated accounting of surface and subsurface processes. The linked model will be especially valuable for analyzing different conjunctive use strategies and their associated impacts on other CALFED-related issues. This Science and Technology (S&T) Program research project specifically looks at the need to integrate geospatial technologies and visualization support for the HGS Implementation.

The work proposed in this research project will demonstrate the integration of geospatial technologies and visualization to support the application and verification of HGS. This proposal will integrate into the Red Rock Ranch case study involving a highly characterized small-scale field site (640 acres) for evaluating an Integrated Farm Drainage Management (IFDM) system, located in the San Joaquin Valley. The geospatial technology and visualization integration will allow the modelers to view and interpret model results from this case study will be useful for the formulation of optimal design and management guidelines for IFDM systems.

Research will include reviewing available geospatial technologies and visualization tools including, but not limited to, EQuIS suite of database tools and ArcGIS integration tools for Geology and Chemistry data by EarthSoft, Ground water Modeling System (GMS) suite of tools for import and export of HGS data by Environmental Modeling Systems, Inc. EarthVision 3D modeling and visualization tools by Dynamic Graphics, Inc., and RockWorks2002 by Rockware. This research effort will specifically focus on commercial off-the-shelf software integrated to ArcGIS by ESRI to support geospatial technological integration to the HGS model.

Developments within the geospatial industry over the past few years have resulted in many commercially available software tools that, instead of being designed for single use and utilizing proprietary file formats, are now using integrative methods that support software applications from a variety of software titles. Instead of using one software tool (that may not meet the end-users' needs), this new approach allows for the end-user to define which tools will meet their needs and best integrate with the variety of tools they prefer to use or have readily available. This approach leverages the existing Department of the Interior (DOI) Enterprise Licensing Agreements (ELA) and integrates the efforts to support commercial off-the-helf software that will enable many end users access to the visualization tools that geospatial technologies provide. Examples include EQuIS for storing geospatial databases allowing for data maintenance, comprehensive sample selection and analysis capabilities integrating seamlessly into ten other geospatial software tools that extend the end-users capabilities for model input and visualization while supporting critical metadata to support the documentation needs of the modeling effort and necessary reports. Another example is integration and utilization of the EarthVision suite of software that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) uses in the Central Valley. This research will focus on supporting the HGS model by supporting visualization of input and output data from the model being facilitated through existing tools with limited user-created tools to support the visualization.

Contributing Partners

Contact the Principal Investigator for information about partners.

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