This hands-on GIS workshop will give researchers, planners and land/resource managers the spatial analysis skills they need to integrate field data with watershed-scale variables and gain a better perspective of the upstream processes and circumstances that may be driving observed conditions. As an advanced-level course using ESRI's ArcGIS software, learn how to perform advanced raster queries and calculations and how to conduct advanced manipulation of terrain data through Python programming. Students will generate and assess their own digital elevation models from field collected LiDAR data and will classify and analyze Landsat satellite imagery to assess drought conditions. Implementation of workflows will focus on watershed generating algorithms and the attribution of vector data from raster analysis. By the end of the workshop, students will be able to generate watershed boundaries and stream networks, as well as stream order, in a semi-automated fashion. Additional exercises will focus on the integration of reach-level habitat inventories, fish and macroinvertebrate surveys, and water quality parameters into a watershed GIS. Students will also become familiar with the implementation of various ArcGIS tools and extensions, complementary software packages such as Geospatial Modelling Environment, and advanced concepts in watershed analysis.
Students enrolling in this course should be comfortable in ArcGIS and understand raster and vector concepts, but no prior programming experience or experience with Spatial Analyst is required. GIS for Watershed Analysis: Intermediate is a recommended, but not required, prerequisite for those who are less comfortable with basic ArcGIS operations.