Importing survey data for a river reach

Step-by-step guide

River modelers generally build their river networks from survey data. The first stage in building a river reach is to import the necessary survey data, such as cross section lines, section data, and the river reach center line. As with other imports in InfoWorks ICM, this is done using the Open Data Import Centre (ODIC). This exercise imports pre-prepared survey cross section data, river reach centre line data, and node locations.

1. In the Explorer window, right-click a model group and select New InfoWorks > InfoWorks Network.
2. Name the network "1D River Model".
3. Click OK.
4. Double-click the 1D River Model network to open it in the GeoPlan.

Now start importing several sets of data into this model. First are the cross-section surveys:

5. From the Network menu, select Import > Open Data Import Centre.
6. From the Table To Import Data Into list, select Cross section line.
7. In the Data Source section, set the Source Type to CSV.
8. Click the Browse (…) button.
9. Navigate to the folder of the exercise files for this tutorial.
10. Select Cross_Section Lines.csv.
11. Click Open.
12. Back in the ODIC, in the Field Mapping Configuration section, click Auto-Map.
13. Click Import.
14. Click OK to complete the import.

Much of the data associated with rivers and structures is held in subtables. Therefore, it is necessary to first create the objects before populating the subtables with data:

15. In the Subtable list, select Cross section line: Section data.
16. Click Browse (…).
17. Select Cross Section Data.csv.
18. Click Open.
19. Click Auto-Map.

Notice that new Import Fields are now set to be imported.

20. Click Import.
21. Click OK to complete the update.

A river junction or inflow point is always a break node. This has no definable area but allows connectivity between the link objects. In this example, the node locations have been pre-defined. To import break node data:

22. From the Table To Import Data Into list, select Node.
23. In the Data Source section, set the Source Type to CSV.
24. Click Browse (…).
25. Select Break_Nodes.csv.
26. Click Open.
27. Back in the ODIC, in the Field Mapping Configuration section, click Auto-Map.
28. Click Import.
29. Click OK.

Next, import the river reach center lines:

30. In the Table To Import Data Into list, select River reach.
31. In the Data Source section, set the Source Type to Raw Shape File.
32. Click Browse (…).
33. Select River Centre Line.shp.
34. Click Open.
35. In the Field Mapping Configuration section, click Auto-Map.
36. Click Import.
37. Click OK.

38. Close the Open Data Import Centre.

Survey data is displayed on the GeoPlan as a series of lines. The blue lines represent cross-section data.

39. Double-click one of the cross sections to open the Properties window.
40. In the Section data field, click the More (…) button.

41. View the section data.

42. Close the Section data window.

Where additional data is required, this can be added manually within the ICM interface.

Commonly, the cross section X, Y, Z data will have been provided by a surveyor, although it may need reformatting. The node and river centre lines could either be derived outside of ICM and imported, as per this example, or, manually created within ICM from mapping, once the cross sections are imported. When adding a node to be placed on top of a cross section line, it is important to make sure that it is snapped to one of the points on the cross section.