MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology

Basic GIS and

GIS for Hydrology

Engr. Elizabeth Edan M. Albiento

October 2017
 Table of Contents

Introduction
About ArcGIS 2

Activity 1 – Basic GIS

1.1 Folder System 2
1.2 Creating New Project 2
1.3 Activating ArcGIS Extensions 3
1.4 Setting Map Units and Map Projections 3

Activity 2 – Vector and Raster Analysis

2.1 Loading Vector and Raster 5
2.2 Getting Around the Map 6
2.3 Vector and Raster Properties 7
2.4 Creating Vector 9
2.5 Digitizing 10
2.6 Attribute Table Manipulation 13
2.7 Hillshading

Activity 3 – Hydrology Applications

3.1 Thiessen Polygon 15
3.2 Heat Map by Kernel Density 16
3.3 Interpolation by IDW 16
3.4 Watershed Delineation 18
3.4.1 Weather Map Visualization 18
3.4.2 DEM Preparation 22
3.4.3 Stream Definition 22
3.4.4 Basin Model Processing 25

Activity 4 – Map Layout

4.1 Setting the Map Layout 25
4.2 Layout Window 26
4.3 Data Frames 27
4.4 Layout Details 29
4.5 Exporting Layout 31

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Introduction

About ArcGIS

ArcGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) for working with maps and geographic information.
It is used for: creating and using maps; compiling geographic data; analyzing mapped information;
sharing and discovering geographic information; using maps and geographic information in a range of
applications; and managing geographic information in a database.
The system provides an infrastructure for making maps and geographic information available throughout
an organization, across a community, and openly on the Web.
ArcGIS provides a scalable framework for implementing GIS for a single user or many users on
desktops, in servers, over the web, and the field. ArcGIS is and integrated collection of GIS software
products for building a complete GIS. It consists of a number of frameworks for deploying GIS:
ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, Server GIS and Mobile GIS.

Activity 1 - The ArcGIS Interface

1.1 Folder System
a. In C:\...\Desktop create a folder named GIS_Hydrology.
b. Copy the Hydrology_Data folder and paste it to …\Desktop\GIS_Hydrology

1.2 Creating New Project

a. From your desktop, click on the ArcGIS for Desktop icon ( ).

b. Upon opening ArcGIS you will see the ArcGIS Template window, select Blank.
c. Click OK.
d. On the Menu bar, click on Windows > Table of Contents and Catalog, and make sure that
Table of Contents and Catalog are visible. See figure 1.
(Hint:To add toolbars, click Customize > Toolbars and select the tool bar(s) you want to add.
Tool bars are visible if check marks are ticked next to them.)
e. After exploring the ArcGIS interface, save your project in the Activity folder by writing
„Activity1_(your surname)‟.
(Hint: Click on Save icon ( ) and browse on the Activity1 folder. Click Save)
f. Close the existing project and reopen it.

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 Figure 1.ArcMap Interface; Table of Contents (left red box) and Catalog (right red box)

1.3 Activating ArcGIS Extensions

a. Click on the Customize menu and select Extensions…
b. Check the 3D Analyst and Spatial Analyst Extensions
c. Click the Close button

1.4 Setting Map Units and Map Projection

a. Map units and projection can be found in Data Frame properties. To open Data Frame properties,
from the Menu bar click View > Data Frame Properties.
(Hint: You can also try Right-Clicking Layers from the Table of Contents. Then select
Properties)

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 Figure 2. Setting the Map Units and Projection

b. A new window for Data Frame Properties will pop up. Click the Coordinate System tab and
select WGS 1984 UTM Zone 51N to set the map projection. And click General tab and select
Meters in the Units area to set the map units. (see figure 3)
(Hint: locate WGS 1984 UTM ZONE 51N thru Projected Coordinate Systems > UTM >WGS
1984 > Northern Hemisphere and select WGS 1984 UTM ZONE 51N)

Figure 3. Coordinate System Tab (left); General Tab (right)

c. Click on Apply then OK.

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Activity 2 – Vector and Raster Analysis
2.1 Loading Vectors and Rasters

a. Click on Add Data icon ( ).

b. Navigate to the OSM Maps under Vectors in Activity2 folder. Choose “MuniCities.shp” then
click Add. The MuniCities feature will appear in the Table of Contents window and visible in
the Main window.

Figure 4. Adding a Shapefile

c. To see the full layer extent, click the Full Extent icon ( ) from the Map Navigation toolbar.
d. Add other vectors by navigating in the Catalog window. Locate the Activity2 folder. Expand the
folder by clicking the plus (+) sign before the folder and expand the OSM Maps and double click
the places.shp, points.shp, roads.shp, railways.shp, and waterways.shp one at a time into the
main window.
(Hint: to view the Catalog window, go to Menu Bar and click Windows > Catalog)
e. Add the remaining vectors by dragging building.shp, landuse.shp and natural.shp from the folder
into the ArcMap Main window. See figure 3 for sample Map view after loading all the vectors.

f. Click on Add Data icon ( ).

a. Navigate to the Activity2 folder > Raters. Choose “MSU-IIT_campus.tif” then click Add.
b. In the Table of Contents window, right-click on MSU-IIT_campus and select on Zoom to Layer.

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 Figure 5. Vectors loaded in ArcMap

2.2 Getting Around the Map

a. Zoom in to Iligan City using the Zoom In tool on the Map Navigation toolbar and locate MSU-
IIT. When using the zoom tools, you can click and drag a box around the area you would like to
zoom in to.

5. Zoom In 2. Full Extent 1. Go Back to

6. Zoom Out 3. Fixed Zoom In Previous Extent
7. Pan 4. Fixed Zoom Out

b. Use the Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Pan Map tools to move around the map, and the Full Extent
tool to go back to the full view. Zoom In to Iligan City again after trying with these tools.
c. Try also using the mouse wheel to Zoom In and Out the Map and long pressing the mouse wheel
and drag to Pan the map.
d. Group all the polygon features, all the point features and all the line features by Right-Clicking
Layers in the Table of Contents and select New Group Layer. Rename the added group to “Polygon”.
e. Click and drag the existing polygon features under the Polygon group.
f. Do the same for “Points” and “Lines” group. See figure 4 for sample output.

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 Figure 6. Grouped Points, Lines and Polygons

2.3 Vector and Raster Properties

a. Click on the box before the Points and Lines group to make the features under these groups
invisible from the Main window.
b. Right-click Buildings under the Polygon group then choose Properties. The Layer Properties
window will appear.
c. Under Symbology tab, click the symbol beside the Advanced button and a Symbol selector will
appear. Choose the color and width you want to render. (See figure 7)
d. Click Apply then OK.
e. After changing the color of the polygons, try also for the Lines and Points.
f. Explore on the Layer Properties window and compare the results.
g. Right click on MSU-IIT_campus raster layer then choose Properties. The Layer Properties
window will appear.
h. Click on Symbology tab and explore on the Band Rendering and Stretch Types and compare the
difference. (See figure 8)
i. Click also on Display Tab and explore on Resampling and compare.
j. Save your project in the Activity2 folder and name it „Activity2_(your surname)‟.

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 Figure 7. Symbol Selector

Figure 8. Symbology Tab

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2.4 Creating New Vector
a. Locate the Vectors folder under the Activity 2 from the Catalog window.
(Hint: From the Menu Bar, click Windows and select Catalog)
b. Right click on Vectors folder, hover to New and select Folder and a new folder will appear.
c. Rename the folder as “VectorData”.
d. Hover again to New and select Shapefile.. and the Create New Shapefile window will appear.

Figure 9. Creating a New Shapefile (left); Setting the Name, Feature

Type and Coordinate Systems (right)

e. In the Create a New Shapefile window:

 Write “msu_iit_bldg” as the name
 Select Polygon on Feature Type
 Click Edit to set the Map Projection to WGS_1984 UTM Zone 51N
(Hint: locate WGS_1984 UTM Zone 51N thru Projected Coordinate Systems > UTM>
WGS 1984> Northern Hemisphere > WGS 1984 UTM Zone 51N)
 Click OK
f. msu_iit_bldg layer should now be viewed in the Table of Contents and Main window.
g. Change the symbology of msu_iit_bldg according to your preferences.

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2.5 Digitizing
a. Right click the msu_iit_bldg layer in the Table of Contents window.
b. Hover to Edit Features and Click on Start Editing. If the Start Editing window appears, click
Continue.
c. From the Editor toolbar, click the Create feature icon ( ). The cursor should change to a
Crosshair if hovered to the Main window.
(Hint: to view the Editor toolbar, from the Menu bar Click Customize > Toolbars > tick Editor)
d. In the Create Features window, click on msu_iit_bldg then select polygon in the construction
tools.
e. Trace the MSU-IIT building boundaries by pointing and clicking the cursor to one of the edges
of the building boundary to add a vertex.
f. Finish the digitizing by adding more vertices.
g. Double click on last vertex to close the polygon.
h. Digitize as many buildings as you can. Your output should be similar to figure 10.
i. From the Editor toolbar, Click Editor and select Save Edits to save your edits.
j. Explore on some of the digitizing tools to improve the quality of your layer.
k. To stop editing, Click Editor from the Editor toolbar and select Stop Editing.
a. Save your project.

Figure 10. Digitizing the MSU-IIT buildings

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2.6 Attribute Table Manipulation
a. Right click on msu_iit_bldg then click Open Attribute Table.
b. A new window for Attribute table will appear.
c. Explore on the Attribute table toolbars.

1. Table Options 4. Switch Selection

2. Related Tables 5. Clear Selection 7. Delete Selected
3. Select by Attributes 6. Zoom To Selected

When Table Options is clicked a number of possible actions can be

selected (figure 11). Included in these additional options are Add
Field, Joins and Relates, Create Graphs, Export etc.

Figure 11. Table Options

2.6.1 Adding Field

a. From the Table Options, click Add field.
(Hint: Make sure that you haven‟t started editing the session before you add a field)
b. In the Add Field window, type / select:
 Name : Bldg_Name
 Type: Text
 Length: 20
 Click OK.

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 Figure 12. Adding a Table Field

c. A column named Bldg_Name should be added in the attribute table.

d. In the Add Field window, type / select:
 Name : Area
 Type: Float
 Precision : 10
 scale : 3
 Click OK.
e. A column named Area should be added in the attribute table.
f. To compute the area for each polygon of msu_iit_bldg, enable Start Editing.
(Hint: from the Editor toolbar click Editor > Start Editing or you can right-click msu_iit_bldg
from the Table of Contents and select Editing Features > Start Editing)
g. Right-click Area from the attribute table and select Calculate Geometry. The Calculate Geometry
window should appear.
h. In the Calculate Geometry window, select :
a. Property : Area
b. Coordinate system: PCS: WGS 1984 UTM Zone 51N
c. Units: Square Meters [sq m]
i. Click OK. The areas of each polygon should be automatically calculated.
j. Save your project.

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 Figure 13. Calculate Geometry Properties

2.6.2 Editing the Field

a. Select and delete the column id.
(Hint: to delete column(s), select and right-click the column header(s) to be deleted and click on
Delete Field)
b. A confirmation window will show and Click Yes.
c. Notice that the id column is deleted in the attribute table.
d. Start an editing session for msu_iit_bldg.
e. Write the names of the buildings under the Bldg_Name column for all the features of
msu_iit_bldg.
f. Save and Stop the editing session. Your attribute table should be similar to figure 14.

Figure 14. Sample Table Output

2.7 Hillshading
a. Click Add Data icon ( ) and navigate to Rasters folder under Acitivity2.
b. Select srtm_clip and click Add button.
c. Click on the ArcToolbox icon ( ) on the Standard toolbar. Go to Spatial Analyst > Surface and
then double-click on Hillshade

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d. Input the following to the Hillshade window.
 Input raster: srtm_clip
 Output raster: srtm_clip_h
 Model shadows (optional): Checked
 Click the OK button and Close upon completion
 In the Table of Contents, drag srtm_clip_h below srtm_clip
e. Open srtm_clip properties then go to Display Tab and change the following:
 Resample during displaying using: Bilinear Interpolation (for continuous data)
 Brightness: 10
 Transparency: 40
 Click Apply button
f. On srtm_clip properties, go to Symbology and change the following
 Color Ramp: (Any color of your preference)
 Stretch Type: Standard Deviations
 Stretch Statistics: From Current Display Extent
 Click Apply button and then click OK
g. Open srtm_clip_h properties then go to Display Tab and change the following
 Resample during display using: Bilinear Interpolation (for continuous data)
 Brightness: 10
 Transparency: 0
 Click Apply button
h. On srtm_clip_h properties, go to Symbology and change the following
 Color Ramp: As is (Black to white color ramp)
 Stretch Type: Standard Deviations
 Stretch Statistics: From Current Display Extent
 Click Apply button and then click OK
i. Save your project in the Activity2 folder and name it „Activity2HS_(your surname)‟.

Figure 15. Before (left) and After (right) Hillshading

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 Figure 16. Hillshading Appearance upon Changing the Layer Properties

Activity 3 – Hydrology Applications

3.1 Thiessen Polygon
a. Click Add Data icon ( ) and select MuniCities_dis.shp and RainGauge.shp. Click Add
button.
b. Click on the ArcToolbox icon ( ) on the Standard toolbar. Go to Analysis Tools >
Proximity and then double-click on Create Thiessen Polygons
c. Input the following to the Create Thiessen Polygons window
 Input Features: RainGauge
 Output Feature Class: RainGauge_Thiessen.shp
 Click OK button and then Close upon completion
d. Try to compute for the area of the generated thiessen polygons.

Figure 17. Result of Thiessen Polygon based on Rain Gauge Locations

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 e. Save ( ) your project in the Activity3 folder and name it „Activity3TP_(your surname)‟.

3.2 Heat Map by Kernel Density

a. Uncheck the newly processed RainGauge_Thiessen features in the Table of
Contents.
b. Click on the ArcToolbox icon ( ) on the Standard toolbar. Go to Spatial Analyst Tools >
Density and then double-click on Kernel Density.
c. Input the following to the Kernel Density window:
 Input point or polyline features: RainGauge
 Population field: Rainfall
 Output raster: KernelDensity
 Output cell size: 0.0001
 Search radius: 0.01
 Area units: SQUARE_METERS
 Click OK button and then Close upon completion
d. Go to properties and edit the symbology of the raster as shown in figure 18.

Figure 18. Layer Properties window Figure 19. Output of Kernel Density

e. Save ( ) your project in the Activity3 folder and name it „Activity3KD_(your surname)‟.

3.3 Interpolation by IDW

a. Uncheck the newly processed KernelDensity features in the Table of
Contents.

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b. Click on the ArcToolbox icon ( ) on the Standard toolbar. Go to Spatial Analyst Tools >
Interpolation and then double-click on IDW.
c. Input the following to the IDW window
 Input point features: RainGauge_pcs
 Z value field: Rainfall
 Output raster: Rain_idw
 Output cell size: 1
 Power: 2
 Search Radius: Variable
 Number of points: 12
 Maximum distance: -none-
 Click OK button and Close upon completion
d. Open Rain_idw properties, go to Symbology tab and do the following:
 Select Stretched symbol
 Change the color ramp to your preference
 Click Apply button and then the OK button

Figure 20. Interpolated Rainfall using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW)

a. Save ( ) your project in the Activity3 folder and name it „Activity3IDW_(your surname)‟.

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3.4 Watershed Delineation
3.4.1 Weather Map Visualization
a. Windytv https://www.windyty.com/?rain

Figure 21. Interface of Windytv

Windytv website will allow the viewers to see animated map of rain in real time situation. With
the search location engine located in upper left of the page, just enter the municipality/city and it
will give you a forecasted temperature, humidity, chances of rain and etc.

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 Figure 22. Search Location Engine and capabilities

b. Weather-manila http://www.weather-manila.com/weathermap1.html
The website is developed and run by Gerry Bagtasa, Ph.D. and provides deterministic and local
weather forecast information for anywhere inside the Philippines.

Figure 23. Interface of Weather-manila

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 Information available is shown in maps and tabular form.

Figure 24. Weather outlook table

c. ASTI Predict Website fmon.asti.dost.gov.ph/weather/predict

Philippine Real-Time Environment Data acquisition and Interpretation for Climate-Related
Tragedy Prevention and Mitigation (PREDICT) is a joint project of DOST, ASTI and PAGASA.
This allows us to access real-time weather in different locations in the country.

fmon.asti.dost.gov.ph/weather/predict

Figure 25. ASTI Predict Interface

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 Navigate on the map view and search for the nearest rain gauge sensors within or near
your river basins.
 Click on the selected sensor to show the station observation of the chosen sensor.

Figure 25. Sensor Station Observation

 Click on the Tabular details to show the details of the sensors.

Figure 26. Tabular details

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  Notice that Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) sensors transmit data every 15 minutes interval
while Automatic Water Level Sensors (AWLS) transmit data every 10 minutes interval.

3.4.2 DEM Preparation

a. Click Add Data icon ( ) and navigate to Rasters folder under Acitivity2.
b. Select srtm_clip and click Add button.
c. Click on the ArcToolbox icon ( ) on the Standard toolbar. Go to Spatial Analyst > Hydrology
and then double-click on Fill. Input the following in the Fill window:
 Input Surface Raster: srtm_clip
 Output Surface Raster: Fill
 Click OK once done
d. You will notice a new layer “Fill” added in the Layers tab.

Figure 27. Output Fill raster

3.4.3 Stream Definition

a. Using the corrected DEM, create a flow direction grid.
b. Click on Hydrology > Flow Direction.
c. Input the following in the Flow Direction window:
 Input Surface Raster: Fill
 Output flow direction raster: Fdr
 Click OK once done

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 Figure 28. Output Flow Direction raster
d. To get process the flow accumulation, click on Hydrology > Flow Accumulation.
e. Input the following in the Flow Accumulation window:
 Input Surface Raster: Fdr
 Output flow accumulation raster: Fac
 Click OK once done

Figure 29. Output Flow Accumulation raster

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f. Determine the actual stream channels using the stream threshold values. As a test approximation
for this area, let‟s try defining 1000 cells. Find the Raster Calculator under the Spatial Analyst >
Map Algebra.
g. In the raster calculator window, input the following as shown in the figure below:

Figure 30. Raster Calculator Window

h. Use the tool keypad to enter the equation “fac”>1000.

i. Name the output raster as streams. Click OK.
j. Convert the streams to vector data for symbolizing data to be made easier.
k. Find the Raster to Polyline tool in Conversion > From Raster > Raster to Polyline
l. In the Raster to Polyline window, input the following:
 Input Raster: streams
 Output polyline features: streamsvector.shp
 Background value: ZERO
 Check the Simplify polylines button.
m. Create stream orders by clicking Hydrology > Stream Order.
n. In the Stream order window input the following:
 Input stream raster: streams
 Input flow direction raster: fdr
 Output raster: streamorder
 Click OK.
o. The delineated streams will be reclassified into 4 in the Layers tab and classified according to
color.

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3.4.4 Basin Model Processing
a. Create a watershed pour point by creating a new shapefile. Delineate the watershed pour point at
the watershed outlet using the Editor Toolbar. Name the new shapefile as pour_point.
b. Open the watershed tool under the Hydrology toolset and enter the following to the watershed
window:
 Input flow direction raster: fdr
 Inpt raster or feature pour point data: pour_point
 Output raster: Watershed
 Click OK.

Figure 31. Delineated Watershed

c. Convert the Watershed to polygon data for symbolizing data to be made easier.
d. Find the Raster to Polygon tool in Conversion > From Raster > Raster to Polygon
e. In the Raster to Polyline window, input the following:
 Input Raster: Watershed
 Output polygon features: Watershedvector.shp
 Click OK.
f. Save ( ) your project in the Activity3 folder and name it „Activity3WD_(your surname)‟.

Activity 4 – Layout
4.1 Setting the MapLayout
a. From the table of Contents, rename streamvector to Streams, Municities to Municipal Boundary
and Watershedvector to Mandulog Watershed.
b. Save as the project and name it „Activity4_(your surname)‟.

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 c. From the Menu bar, Click View > Layout View. The display in the Main window should change
similar to a word document.
d. You can change the page layout (portrait or landscape) by clicking File > Page and Print Set-up.
The Page and Print Setup window should appear.
e. Under the Map Page Size, select A4 and Landscape as the page size and orientation respectively.
f. Click OK.

Figure 32. Accessing Page and Print Setup from the Menu Bar (left). Page and Print Setup window (right)

4.2 Layout Window

a. Notice that the map from the main window is drawn in the layout window. See figure 33.

Figure 33. Map in the layout window

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 b. Switch to Data View and click Full Extent to see map full extent.
c. Move map to the left using the Pan tool (or holding down the mouse wheel) until only half of the
map is seen in the window.
d. Switch back to Layout View. Notice how the map is displayed. See Figure 34.

Figure 34. Zoomed map in layout view

e. Explore the Layout window with the Navigation tools and Layout tools.
(Hint: tools are found in Customize > Tools. Navigation tools is Tools and Layout tools is
Layout)

4.3 Data Frames

a. From the table of contents, rename Layers to Watershed.
b. Add another layer (Data Frame) by clicking Insert > Data Frame. Notice the added frame in the
Layout window.
c. Rename the new Data Frame to Philippine Boundary.
d. Drag Municities under Philippine Boundary and edit symbology.

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e. Move and/or resize the frames so that they don‟t overlap each other. See figure 35 for sample
output.

Figure 35. Arrangement of Data Frames

f. Switch to Data View. Notice that the Philippine Boundary is not seen even it‟s ticked. To see or
edit the Philippine boundary, right-click the Philippine Boundary layer in the Table of Contents
and select Activate. The Philippine Boundary should then be visible.
a. For the Extent Indicator:
 Right- click the frame of the Philippine Boundary and select Properties.
 From the Data Frame Properties window, click the Extend Indicator Tab. You should be able
to see the Watershed on the left Box.
 Select the Watershed and Click to add it in the Right box.
 Click OK. You should be able to see a Red Box in the Philippine Boundary pointing the
location of the Watershed.

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 Figure 36. Extent Indicators window

4.4 Layout Details

b. Title, Texts, Legend, North Arrow, Scale Bar, etc. are found in Insert from the Menu Bar. Figure
36 is the sample output in this activity. Try to improve its layout.
(Hint: for each layout details, double-click or right-click then select Properties to change the
settings for each item)
c. For the Title:
 Insert > Title. The title window will appear. Type Mandulog Watershed.
 It should appear in the layout window. Resize and choose a font style according to your
preferences by clicking Change Symbol in its Properties.
d. For the North Arrow:
 Insert > North Arrow.
 Select a North Arrow style according to your preferences and click OK.
 Resize accordingly
e. For the Scale Bar:
 Insert > Scale Bar.
 Select a Scale Bar style according to your preferences and click OK.
 Change the units to Kilometers in the Scale Bar properties. Move and resize it accordingly.

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 Figure 37. Layout View with layout details

f. For the Legend:

 Make sure to Activate first the Watershed from the Table of Contents.
(Hint: right-click Watershed from the table of contents and select Activate)
 Insert > Legend.
 Select the files you want to Legendize and click . Click Next and choose the styles
according to your preferences and Finish. See figure 38.

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 Figure 38. Legend Wizard
 Move and Resize accordingly.
g. Do some finishing touches and save your work.

4.5 Exporting Layout

a. Go to File > Export Map. You can export it to your preferred format.
b. Save the file in Activity 4 folder and name the exported file as Mandulog_Watershed.
c. From your directory, open the newly exported map.
d. Close ArcMap.

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