HAND Model Link to heading

HAND Model Link to heading

Project Description Link to heading

The HAND (Height Above the Nearest Drainage) model is a widely used hydrological descriptor that utilizes Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) as input to provide a detailed spatial representation of soil water environments. This model has shown a strong correlation with water table depth, allowing for the classification of soil-water environments based on normalized drainage potentials and relative vertical flow paths to nearby drainages.

By integrating digital topography data with terrain modeling, the HAND model offers valuable insights into hydrology. A practical application is flood prediction, which aids in assessing potential risks to specific areas (see figure below).

HAND Model Process Overview Link to heading

A visual workflow showing terrain data collection, processing, risk prediction, and flood risk mapping.

Project Details Link to heading

This project aims to transform the original ENVI IDL script, which processes topographic images, into a streamlined GIS software using the Qt Framework. The application leverages the GDAL Geospatial Data Abstraction Library to handle georeferenced images, supporting various raster and vector formats and providing utilities for data extraction and projection conversion.

Currently, the project is a work-in-progress, focused on loading digital elevation files and converting them into a HAND descriptive model (see video demonstration below).

Video Demonstration Link to heading

A brief demonstration video showing HAND Model in action, highlighting its capabilities, file handling and output.