CEEn 531 - Water Resources Engineering

Dr. Nelson

Homework Assignment 3

Complete the Basic and Advanced Feature Objects WMS tutorials. You can get the associated files from the WMS Learning Center..

Identify a small area of your choosing by loading one of the online image maps. "Roughly" delineate a watershed area. You do not need to be too precise, just be sure you have at least one stream segment and a rough bounding polygon for the watershed. When you have the bounding watershed download land use and soils that overlay and convert the area bounding your watershed to WMS land use and soil coverages. You should not pick a large area, it is the process of getting data from shapefile to coverage that I am interested. Create an image (copy to clipboard or screen capture). I have complete confidence in US locations, but you are welcome to try international locations as well. When you are finished save your work to a WMS project file that you can read in for the next tutorial (you should delete the shapefiles first).

Write a paragraph summarizing what you have learned about using vector data (feature objects) in WMS and turn it in on Learning Suite. You may use the questions below as an outline for what to include in your summary, but do not simply answer the questions nor do you need to answer specifically each.

GIS and Feature Objects

  1. What is the purpose of coverages in WMS?
  2. What is the basic difference between vertices and nodes?
  3. How is raster data different from vector data?
  4. List the three main components of shape files along with their description.
  5. List at least 3 topological problems that might appear when importing CAD/GIS features/Layers.
  6. What are the advantages of using a feature-object based model?
  7. What is meant by the topology of a drainage coverage?
  8. At least one stream arc must exist within each basin for the basin to exist in the tree. Why is this so? In other words, why can’t we represent the basin as an area of land that doesn’t have a stream in it? 
     

Extra Questions:

Here are some extra questions for you to think about. 

  1. When are polygons created?
  2. Why attributes are considered an essential components in GIS?
  3. How similar are the terms “Topology” and “Topography”?
  4. How does the GIS module help in WMS?
  5. List the possible feature objects that are used in WMS along with their attributes.
  6. Can we represent a lined rectangular open drain in WMS? If so, how?
    7.