WMS is a comprehensive graphical user's environment for hydrologic modeling. WMS can be used to automatically delineate watershed and sub-basin boundaries, and flood plains from triangulated irregular networks (TINs). TINs are easily constructed using GIS objects and USGS or ARC/INFO digital elevation models as background elevation maps.

The current version of WMS (Version 4.1) provides graphical user interfaces to the rainfall/runoff simulation programs HEC-1 and TR-20. WMS also includes graphical interfaces for the Rational Method and the National Flood Frequency Program (NFFP). Topologic trees representations of the watershed are created automatically from streams and basins constructed using TIN models, or they can be manually created when terrain data for the project model is not available. All parameters are entered through user-friendly dialogs. Geometric parameters such as area, slope, and length can be computed directly through the TINs.

Some of the key features of WMS are: (1) Windows 95, Windows NT, and Windows 3.X compatible, (2) UNIX - X/Windows compatible, (3) contains sophisticated tools for creating and editing TINs, (4) computes geometric parameters for hydrologic models in a fraction of the time as compared to traditional hand calculations, (5) automatically computes lag time or time of concentration from computed geometric parameters, (6) creates input files for hydrologic models such as HEC-1, TR-20, the Rational Method, and the NFFP, (7) generates flood plain boundaries from stage values, (8) Arc/Info and Arcview compatible, (9) imports and exports DXF files, and (10) uses TIFF images as a background that can be used to generate basin information.

Copies of WMS have been distributed throughout the FHWA and to each State highway agency. Training courses are being offered on a regional basis in 1997. A NHI training course will be developed in 1998.

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HIGHWAYTECHNET   VIRTUAL EXPO   STRUCTURES INDEX

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U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration