Smart River Networks
(Free Download)

Terrainworks’ Virtual Watersheds contain “Smart River Networks”. These stream network shapefiles (vectors) are designed to work within GIS software. They have been developed using a range of digital elevation model resolutions, including 1 m LiDAR, 10 m National Elevation Datasets. and IfSAR 5 m DEMs (in Alaska). Smart river networks mean the reach shapefiles contain a range of channel and watershed information (drainage area, elevation, gradient, channel width etc., see below) as attributes within the approximately 100 m reaches. The reaches are routed, allowing upstream and downstream transfer or aggregation of data. They can be used with a variety of different watershed models. First, select you desired resolution from the map, and the coverage for that resolution will be displayed. The map will show available watershed stream datasets (watershed scale Hydrologic Unit Code 8 digit, 4th field). Clicking on the dataset will reveal its name and then download it.

Smart river attributes include segment length, drainage area, elevation, distance to mouth, gradient, mean annual precipitation, mean annual flow, channel bankfull depth, bankfull width, stream order, azimuth, and sinuosity.

If you would like a full virtual watershed dataset that includes all attributes and functionality, please contact us.