Water Planning GIS for the Paso del Norte Region

1. Water Planning GIS for the Paso del Norte Region Presented by John Kennedy GIS Coordinator New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute March 2002

2. Project Participants • Bobby Creel • Project Manager, Water Resources Research Institute, New Mexico State University (NMWRRI) • John Kennedy • GIS Coordinator for the NMWRRI • Dr. G. Randy Keller & Raed Aldouri • Professor and Co-principle Investigator of Geoscience Applications for the Pan-American Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso. • GIS Technician, Geoscience Applications for the Pan-American Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso. • Dr. Alfredo Granados Olivas • Professor of Hydrology and GIS Coordinator, Centro de Información Geográfica, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.

3. Problem • A majority of the maps available for water planning in the Paso del Norte region, whether produced by the US or Mexico, have the typical “blank” region on the other side of the border. • This is also true to a lesser extent for maps of Texas and New Mexico. • In most cases the information is available, but the basic layers are at different spatial scale, resolution, and extent. • This has precluded their combined use.

4. Smerltertown 7.5’ USGS Topographic map

5. Purpose • The purpose of the project is to develop and create a regional geographic information system (GIS) to support regional water planning in the Paso del Norte region. • The basic geographic spatial databases, also known as framework or basemap data, consists of seven components. • These are: geodetic control, orthoimagery, elevation, transportation, hydrography, governmental units, and cadastral information.

6. Support • The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation - $74,999 • Matching from Cooperators - $16,227

7. Approach • The project involves the cooperation of GIS professionals at the three universities in the region. • A major task of this project is to acquire and evaluate existing digital data useful to water planning activities with a goal of combining them into seamless products.

8. Approach Continued • Where digital data are not available, tasks were designed to assess requirements for their development. • In addition, the GIS system should contain other databases that would be useful for regional water planning. • Examples include groundwater aquifer boundaries, water well locations, watershed boundaries, and landuse classifications.

9. Schedule and Deliverables • Project initiated June 1, 2001 (with a 1 year duration). • Deliverables from the project would consist of digital GIS layers of relevant themes useful for water planning within the framework and basemap data for the seven geospatial components described above. • In addition, other useful information would be incorporated into the system. • The information would be provided jointly by the participating entities from Internet websites as well as a completion report with a CDROM for the data.

10. Data Requirements of the Project • GIS basemap datasets that are “seamless” across the International Border. • GIS datasets that have common classification systems. • Elevation contours are at the the same units and in the unit same intervals • Features have both English and Spanish attributes.

11. Framework Data • Start with basemap data at a common regional scale of 1:100,000 • Geodetic control • Elevation • Orthoimagery • Transportation • Hydrography • Governmental units • Cadastral information • Incorporate other data as needed

12. Framework Data Detail • The geodetic component consists of a database of geographic points, with surveyed location and elevation. • The orthoimagery component consists primarily of aerial photography that can be used as a source of information or as a backdrop to other databases. • The elevation component consists of two data types. The first data type consists of regular interval contours that represent elevation of the land surface and the second data type is called a digital elevation model (DEM).

13. Framework Data Detail Continued • The transportation component consists of linear data that represent transportation networks. • The hydrography component represents surface-water features, such as streams, rivers, lakes, and playas. • The governmental unit component represents boundaries such as county/state lines and municipal jurisdictions. • The cadastral component represents the ownership or control of land parcels.

14. Data Sources • USGS • USGS Mapping Webpage • http://mapping.usgs.gov • National Spatial Data Inventory • http://nsdi.usgs.gov/ • USGS Geographic Data Download • http://edc.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html

15. Data Sources Continued • GIS Data Depot • http://www.gisdatadepot.com • Free data for download • Arc/Info format • Metadata • Images • Resource Geographic Information System • http://rgis.unm.edu/ • Data for the state of New Mexico • Arc/Info format • Metadata

16. Data Sources Continued • Universities • NMWRRI • NMSU Geography Department • University of Texas El Paso PACES • LANDSAT Imagery • http://paces.geo.utep.edu • State Agencies • NM OSE • EBID • County • Doña Ana County • City • City of Las Cruces • Others?

17. Data Processing • Data Formats • Arc/Info Export/Import Format • *.e00 files • Very common file format for exchanging data • Import 7.1 Utility comes with ArcView 3 and will import Arc/Info export files • Shape Files • Minimum of three files • *.shp, *.dbf, *.shx • Often compressed and combined into a WinZip file • AutoCAD Files • Export files have a *.dxf extension • Drawing files can be used with the CAD Reader Extension

18. Data Processing Continued • Other data types • Access databases, Excel Spreadsheets • Can be connected through ODBC • Export to dBase III format (*.dbf). • Flat Files • Require some editing in Notepad and processing in Excel to create a *.dbf file. • The above files can be shown in ArcView as “Event Themes”

19. Geodetic Control • Data acquired from the RGIS • They created the database from an acquired ASCII flat file, which was modified so that it can be imported into Arc/Info • ArcView 3.2 can also be used to import data and display the data as an event theme • National Geodetic Survey • http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/ • Control points for vertical and horizontal control

20. Elevation • Hypsography • http://edc.usgs.gov/geodata/ • Select scale and geographic extent • Download file and use WinZip to extract the files • Use sdts2cov.aml found at http://www.esri.com to convert the SDTS data and combine • Some data available from RGIS, but most are small- scale datasets

21. Elevation Continued • Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) • Raster data • 3 arc seconds • SDTS Format can be imported using an ArcView script • For this project • 1:250K DEMs • Used UNIX commands to import data • Used UNIX Arc/Info

22. Start at the http://mapping.usgs.gov web site

23. Move on to the 1:100K DLG files

24. Locate the state of interest

25. Locate the quadrangles

26. Choose the theme type

27. Select the SDTS file format

28. Click and hold the right mouse button on the SDTS file and select Save Target As . . and save file in your workspace.

29. WinZip • When using WinZip to un-zip an SDTS .tar.gz file, make sure you UN-CHECK WinZip's Options / Configuration / Miscellaneous option that says "TAR file smart CR/LF conversion." Otherwise, SDTSIMPORT will not work.

30. Master Data Dictionary • 100K • http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/DLG/100K/00MASTERDD_100K.SDTS/ • Large Scale • http://edcftp.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/DLG/LARGE_SCALE/00MASTERDD_LRG.SDTS • Small Scale • http://edcftp.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/DLG/2M/00MASTERDD_2M.SDTS • Copy the files into a directory called masterdd

31. A master data dictionary is needed in a directory at the same level as your data.

32. Use the sdts2cov.aml file found on the ESRI web site to import the data.

33. These are the coverages created with the sdts2cov.aml file.

34. Files shown in ArcView

35. DEM Conversion • The data is collected from the following web site: http://edc.usgs.gov/geodata/ • This conversion was done on UNIX machine • The files are compressed using "gzip", use gunzip to uncompress the files. Once unzipped, the files have to be delimited use the following syntax: dd if=filename of=outline ibs=4096 cbs=1024 conv=unblock • Then the file DEM file is converted to a lattice in Arc/Info: • demlattice infilename outfilename USGS • The data is in the WGS72 coordinate system • Can project lattice to other coordinate systems • The lattice is now ready for use in Arc/Info and ArcView.

36. gunzip filesdd files

37. Demlattice to convert the DEM to a lattice

38. Merge lattices using latticemerge

39. Project grid to UTM.

40. Projection File input Projection GEOGRAPHIC Datum WGS72 Zunits METERS Units DD Spheroid WGS1972 seven Parameters output Projection UTM Zone 13 Datum nar_c three Units METERS Parameters END

41. DEM and Transportation

42. Orthoimagery • Digital imagery • 7.5’ USGS Topographic map • http://www-wmc.wr.usgs.gov/doq/ • LANDSAT • http://paces.geo.utep.edu

43. USGS DOQQ

44. LANDSAT 7 Data obtain from PACES

45. Transportation • http://edc.usgs.gov/geodata/ • Select scale and geographic extent

46. Transportation Continued • Download file and use WinZip to extract the files • Use sdts2cov.aml found at http://www.esri.com to convert the SDTS data and combine • Use the same steps as for hypsography • Some data available from RGIS, but most are small- scale datasets

47. Deference's in the databases

48. How to overcome the differences? • When merging the datasets, start with the coverage that has the largest number of fields. • Route_number1, Route_number2, etc. • This ensures that all fields will be included in the final product.

49. Hydrography • http://edc.usgs.gov/geodata/ • Select scale and geographic extent

50. Hydrography Continued • Download file and use WinZip to extract the files • Use sdts2cov.aml found at http://www.esri.com to convert the SDTS data and combine • Use the same steps as for hypsography • Some data available from RGIS, but most are small- scale datasets