Lecture 5

Spatial Analysis &

Raster Calculations

GIS in Water Resources

Spring 2015

Spatial Analysis Using Grids

Learning Objectives
• The concepts of spatial fields as a way to
represent geographical information
• Raster and vector representations of spatial
fields
• Perform raster calculations using spatial
analyst
• Raster calculation concepts and their use in
hydrology
• Calculate slope on a raster using
– ESRI polynomial surface method
– Eight direction pour point model
– [D method]

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 Readings – at http://help.arcgis.com
• Elements of geographic information starting from “Overview of
geographic information elements”
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/00v2/00v200000003
000000.htm to “Example: Representing surfaces”

Readings – at http://help.arcgis.com
• Rasters and images starting from “What is raster data”
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//009t00
000002000000.htm to end of “Raster dataset attribute tables”

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 Two fundamental ways of representing
geography are discrete objects and fields.
The discrete object view represents the real world as
objects with well defined boundaries in empty space.

(x1,y1)

Points Lines Polygons

The field view represents the real world as a finite number

of variables, each one defined at each possible position.

f ( y )   f ( x , y ) dx
x  

Continuous surface

Raster and Vector Data

Raster data are described by a cell grid, one value per cell
Vector Raster

Point

Line
Zone of cells
Polygon

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 Raster and Vector are two methods
of representing geographic data in
GIS
• Both represent different ways to encode and
generalize geographic phenomena
• Both can be used to code both fields and
discrete objects
• In practice a strong association between
raster and fields and vector and discrete
objects

Numerical representation of a spatial surface (field)

Grid

TIN Contour and flowline

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 Triangulated Irregular Networks, TINs

No point in a set of points P lies

within a circumcircle of any of the
created triangles.

=> Delauney Triangulation

“Flipping”

Algorithm
This is NOT Delauney This one IS Delauney

Relation to Voronoi Tesselation

Mark center of each circumcircle.

Then connect each center with those

surrounding.

If center of CC is inside triangle, then lines

connecting centers are perpendicular to the
common edge of two neighboring triangles.

Does not always work out! Has implications

for numerical models needing orthogonal grid.

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 Six approximate representations of a field used in GIS

Regularly spaced sample points Irregularly spaced sample points Rectangular Cells

Irregularly shaped polygons Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) Polylines/Contours

from Longley, P. A., M. F. Goodchild, D. J. Maguire and D. W. Rind, (2001), Geographic Information
Systems and Science, Wiley, 454 p.

A grid defines geographic space as a matrix of

identically-sized square cells. Each cell holds a
numeric value that measures a geographic attribute
(like elevation) for that unit of space.

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 The grid data structure

• Grid size is defined by extent, spacing and

no data value information
– Number of rows, number of column
– Cell sizes (X and Y)
– Top, left , bottom and right coordinates
• Grid values
– Real (floating decimal point)
– Integer (may have associated attribute table)

Definition of a Grid
Cell size

Number
of
rows
NODATA cell
(X,Y)
Number of Columns

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 Points as Cells

Line as a Sequence of Cells

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Polygon as a Zone of Cells

NODATA Cells

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Cell Networks

Grid Zones

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 Floating Point Grids

Continuous data surfaces using floating point or decimal numbers

Value attribute table for categorical

(integer) grid data

Attributes of grid zones

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 Raster Sampling

from Michael F. Goodchild. (1997) Rasters, NCGIA Core Curriculum in GIScience,

http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/units/u055/u055.html, posted October 23, 1997

Raster Generalization

Largest share rule Central point rule

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 Raster Calculator
Example
5 6 Precipitation
Cell by cell 7 6
evaluation of -
-
mathematical Losses
3 3
functions 2 4 (Evaporation,
Infiltration)
=
2 3
=
5 2 Runoff

Runoff generation processes

Infiltration excess overland flow P
aka Horton overland flow
P f
P qo
f

Partial area infiltration excess P

overland flow
P
P qo
f

Saturation excess overland flow P

P
P qo
qr
qs

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Runoff generation at a point depends on
• Rainfall intensity or amount
• Antecedent conditions
• Soils and vegetation
• Depth to water table (topography)
• Time scale of interest

These vary spatially which suggests a spatial

geographic approach to runoff estimation

Cell based discharge mapping flow

accumulation of generated runoff
Radar Precipitation grid

Soil and land use grid

Runoff grid from raster

calculator operations
implementing runoff
generation formula’s

Accumulation of runoff
within watersheds

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 Raster calculation – some subtleties

Resampling or interpolation
(and reprojection) of inputs
+ to target extent, cell size,
and projection within
region defined by analysis
mask
=
Analysis mask

Analysis cell size

Analysis extent

Spatial Snowmelt Raster Calculation Example

The grids below depict initial snow depth and average temperature over a day for an area.
100 m 150 m 150 m
100 m
100 m
100 m

150 m

40 50 55
40 50 55
4 6
150 m

4 6

42
42
47
47
43
43

2 2
4 4
42
42 44
44 41
41

(a) Initial snow depth (cm) (b) Temperature (oC)

One way to calculate decrease in snow depth due to melt is to use a temperature index
model that uses the formula
D new  D old  m  T
Here Dold and Dnew give the snow depth at the beginning and end of a time step, T gives
the temperature and m is a melt factor. Assume melt factor m = 0.5 cm/OC/day.
Calculate the snow depth at the end of the day.

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New depth calculation using Raster
Calculator
“snow100” - 0.5 * “temp150”

Example and Pixel Inspector

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 The Result

• Outputs are
on 150 m grid.
38 52
• How were
values
obtained ?
41 39

Nearest Neighbor Resampling with

Cellsize Maximum of Inputs
100 m

40 50 55
40-0.5*4 = 38

42 47 43
55-0.5*6 = 52
38 52
42 44 41
42-0.5*2 = 41

41-0.5*4 = 39 41 39
150 m

4 6

2 4

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 Scale issues in interpretation of
measurements and modeling results
The scale triplet
a) Extent b) Spacing c) Support

From: Blöschl, G., (1996), Scale and Scaling in Hydrology, Habilitationsschrift, Weiner Mitteilungen Wasser Abwasser Gewasser, Wien, 346 p.

From: Blöschl, G., (1996), Scale and Scaling in Hydrology, Habilitationsschrift, Weiner Mitteilungen Wasser Abwasser Gewasser, Wien, 346 p.

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Use Environment Settings to control the scale
of the output
Extent

Spacing & Support

Raster Calculator “Evaluation” of “temp150”

4 4 6 6 6

2 4 4

2 4

2 4 4

Nearest neighbor to the E and S

has been resampled to obtain a
100 m temperature grid.

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 Calculation with cell size set to 100 m grid
“snow100” - 0.5 * “temp150”

• Outputs are on
100 m grid as
38 47 52 desired.
• How were
41
41 45 these values
obtained ?
41 42 39

100 m cell size raster calculation

100 m

40-0.5*4 = 38
40 50 55 50-0.5*6 = 47
55-0.5*6 = 52
42 47 43
42-0.5*2 = 41
38 47 52
47-0.5*4 = 45
42 44 41 43-0.5*4 = 41
41 45 41
42-0.5*2 = 41
150 m

4 6 6 44-0.5*4 = 42
41 42 39
4 6 41-0.5*4 = 39
2 4 4
2 4 Nearest neighbor values resampled to
2 4 4 100 m grid used in raster calculation

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 What did we learn?
• Raster calculator automatically uses
nearest neighbor resampling
• The scale (extent and cell size) can be set
under options

• What if we want to use some other form of

interpolation? From Point
Natural Neighbor, IDW, Kriging,
Spline, …
From Raster
Project Raster (Nearest, Bilinear,
Cubic)

Interpolation
Estimate values between known values.
A set of spatial analyst functions that predict values for a
surface from a limited number of sample points creating a
continuous raster.

Apparent improvement in resolution may not

be justified

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 Interpolation
methods
• Nearest neighbor
• Inverse distance 1
z   zi
weight ri
• Bilinear
z  (a  bx )(c  dy)
interpolation
• Kriging (best linear z   w iz i
unbiased estimator)
• Spline z   ci x e i ye i

Nearest Neighbor “Thiessen”

Spline Interpolation
Polygon Interpolation

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 Interpolation Comparison

Grayson, R. and G. Blöschl, ed. (2000)

Further Reading
Grayson, R. and G. Blöschl, ed. (2000),
Spatial Patterns in Catchment Hydrology:
Observations and Modelling, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 432 p.

Chapter 2. Spatial Observations and

Interpolation

Full text online at:

http://www.catchment.crc.org.au/special_publications1.html

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Spatial Surfaces used in Hydrology

Elevation Surface — the ground surface

elevation at each point

3-D detail of the Tongue river at the WY/Mont border from LIDAR.
Roberto Gutierrez
University of Texas at Austin

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 Topographic Slope

• Defined or represented by one of the following

– Surface derivative z (dz/dx, dz/dy)
– Vector with x and y components (Sx, Sy)
– Vector with magnitude (slope) and direction (aspect) (S, )

ArcGIS “Slope” tool

dz (a  2d  g) - (c  2f  i)

dx 8 * x_mesh_spacing
a b c
d e f dz (g  2h  i) - (a  2b  c)

g h i dy 8 * y_mesh_spacing
2 2
rise  dz   dz   rise 
      deg  atan  
run  dx   dy   run 

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 ArcGIS Aspect – the steepest downslope
direction

dz
 dz / dx 
dy atan  
 dz / dy 
dz
dx

30 Example
a b c dz (a  2d  g) - (c  2f  i)

80 74 63 dx 8 * x_mesh_spacing
(80  2 * 69  60)  (63  2 * 56  48)
d e f 145.2o 
69 67 56 8 * 30
 0.229
g h i
60 52 48 dz (g  2h  i) - (a  2b  c)

dy 8 * y_mesh_spacing
(60  2 * 52  48)  (80  2 * 74  63)

Slope  0.229 2  0.329 2 8 * 30
 0.401  0.329

atan (0.401)  21.8o

 0.229   180o
Aspect  atan    34.8
o

  0.329   145.2o

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Hydrologic Slope (Flow Direction Tool)
- Direction of Steepest Descent
30 30

80 74 63 80 74 63

69 67 56 69 67 56

60 52 48 60 52 48

67  48 67  52
Slope:  0.45  0.50
30 2 30

Eight Direction Pour Point Model

32 64 128

16 1

8 4 2

ESRI Direction encoding

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 Limitation due to 8 grid directions.

The D Algorithm
Proportion Steepest direction
flowing to downslope
neighboring Proportion flowing to
grid cell 4 is neighboring grid cell 3
1/(1+2) is 2/(1+2)
3 2
4 2 1
Flow
direction.

5 1

6 8
7

Tarboton, D. G., (1997), "A New Method for the Determination of Flow Directions and
Contributing Areas in Grid Digital Elevation Models," Water Resources Research,
33(2): 309-319.) (http://www.engineering.usu.edu/cee/faculty/dtarb/dinf.pdf)

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 The D Algorithm
Steepest direction
downslope

3 2
4
2
e e 
0 1 1  atan  1 2 
5 1   e0  e1 

2 2
8 e e  e e 
6
7 S  1 2   0 1
     

If 1 does not fit within the triangle the angle is chosen along the steepest
edge or diagonal resulting in a slope and direction equivalent to D8

D∞ Example
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80 74 63 e e 
1  atan  7 8 
 e0  e7 
eo
69 67 56  52  48 
 atan    14.9
o

 67  52 
e7 e8
60 52 48
2 2
284.9o  52  48   67  52 
S    
14.9o  30   30 
 0.517

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 Key Spatial Analysis Concepts
• Contours and Hillshade to visualize topography

Zonal Average of Raster over

Subwatershed

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Subwatershed Precipitation by
Thiessen Polygons
• Thiessen Polygons
• Feature to Raster (Precip
field)
• Zonal Statistics (Mean)
• Join
• Export to DBF (Excel)

Subwatershed Precipitation by
Interpolation• Kriging (on Precip
field)
• Zonal Statistics
(Mean)
• Join
• Export

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 Runoff Coefficients
• Interpolated precip for each
subwatershed
• Convert to volume, P
• Sum over upstream
subwatersheds
• Runoff volume, Q
• Ratio of Q/P

Watershed HydroID's
Subwatershed Precip from Thiessen Polygons Plum Ck at Lockhart, TX 330
Mean  Precip Volume  Blanco Rv nr Kyle, TX 331, 332
HydroID Area (m^2) Precip (in) (ft^3) San Marcos Rv at Luling, TX 331,332,333,336
330 2.91E+08 36.37 9.49E+09
331 9.21E+08 37.82 3.12E+10
332 1.49E+08 40.48 5.42E+09
333 1.27E+08 40.48 4.60E+09 Precip 
336 9.80E+08 37.59 3.31E+10 Flow  volume 
Flow  Volume  Subwater‐ subwater‐ Runoff 
Watersheds (cfs) (ft^3) sheds shed sum ratio
Plum Ck at Lockhart, TX 49.00 1.5E+09 330 9.49E+09 0.16303
Blanco Rv nr Kyle, TX 165.00 5.2E+09 331, 332 3.67E+10 0.14203
331, 332, 
San Marcos Rv at Luling, TX 408.00 1.3E+10 333, 336 7.43E+10 0.17325

Summary Concepts
• Grid (raster) data structures represent
surfaces as an array of grid cells
• Raster calculation involves algebraic like
operations on grids
• Interpolation and Generalization is an
inherent part of the raster data
representation

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 Summary Concepts (2)
• The elevation surface represented by a grid digital
elevation model is used to derive surfaces
representing other hydrologic variables of interest
such as
– Slope
– Drainage area (more details in later classes)
– Watersheds and channel networks (more details
in later classes)

Summary Concepts (3)

• The eight direction pour point model
approximates the surface flow using eight
discrete grid directions.
• The D vector surface flow model
approximates the surface flow as a flow
vector from each grid cell apportioned
between down slope grid cells.

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