Automating a Data Collection System within ArcGIS for River Gage Cross-section Data Analysis

Flood inundation mapping is an important tool in assessing risks and preparing for potential floods. This project is meant to assist in research that uses flow velocity at different stream stages to improve flood inundation mapping. A program is used to calculate velocity using cross-section elevations. The current process for getting cross-section elevations is done manually in ArcGIS Pro. The purpose of this project is to automate the workflow in ArcGIS Pro to reduce the time required and improve consistency between stream gage sites. The process to automate the workflow consists of writing a Python script to be used in ArcGIS Pro. The Python script uses APIs to retrieve the coordinates of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gage, a digital elevation model (DEM) from OpenTopography, and a stream center line from the National Hydrography database to be used as inputs in the workflow. Next, the script uses existing functions in ArcGIS Pro to draw evenly spaced cross-sections upstream and downstream of the USGS stream gage and get the x-, y-, and z- coordinate data for the points in each cross-section. Lastly, the Python script outputs the data for each cross-section in one comma-separated values (.csv) file that can be saved locally or shared on GitHub. The .csv file is formatted to be ready to use in the next steps of the research project. The result of the automated workflow is a simplified, faster, and more reproducible data collection process to assist in the flood inundation research. The automated workflow produces similar results to previous cross-section data collected manually, allowing users to gather data more efficiently, giving more time for other important tasks.