1r.fill.dir(1)                 Grass User's Manual                r.fill.dir(1)
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NAME

6       r.fill.dir   - Filters and generates a depressionless elevation map and
7       a flow direction map from a given elevation raster map.
8

KEYWORDS

10       raster, hydrology, sink, fill sinks, depressions
11

SYNOPSIS

13       r.fill.dir
14       r.fill.dir --help
15       r.fill.dir [-f]  input=name  output=name  direction=name   [areas=name]
16       [format=string]     [--overwrite]    [--help]   [--verbose]   [--quiet]
17       [--ui]
18
19   Flags:
20       -f
21           Find unresolved areas only
22
23       --overwrite
24           Allow output files to overwrite existing files
25
26       --help
27           Print usage summary
28
29       --verbose
30           Verbose module output
31
32       --quiet
33           Quiet module output
34
35       --ui
36           Force launching GUI dialog
37
38   Parameters:
39       input=name [required]
40           Name of input elevation raster map
41
42       output=name [required]
43           Name for output depressionless elevation raster map
44
45       direction=name [required]
46           Name for output flow direction  map  for  depressionless  elevation
47           raster map
48
49       areas=name
50           Name for output raster map of problem areas
51
52       format=string
53           Aspect direction format
54           Options: agnps, answers, grass
55           Default: grass
56

DESCRIPTION

58       r.fill.dir  filters  and generates a depressionless elevation map and a
59       flow direction map from a  given  raster  elevation  map.   The  method
60       adopted  to  filter  the  elevation  map and rectify it is based on the
61       paper titled "Extracting topographic structure from  digital  elevation
62       model  data  for geographic information system analysis" by S.K. Jenson
63       and J.O. Domingue (1988).
64
65       The procedure takes an elevation layer as input and initially fills all
66       the  depressions  with one pass across the layer. Next, the flow direc‐
67       tion algorithm tries to find a unique direction for each cell.  If  the
68       watershed program detects areas with pothholes, it delineates this area
69       from the rest of the area and once again  the  depressions  are  filled
70       using  the  neighborhood  technique used by the flow direction routine.
71       The final output will be a depressionless elevation layer and a  unique
72       flow direction layer.
73
74       This  (D8)  flow algorithm performs as follows: At each raster cell the
75       code determines the slope to  each  of  the  8  surrounding  cells  and
76       assigns  the  flow  direction to the highest slope out of the cell.  If
77       there is more than one equal, non-zero slope then the  code  picks  one
78       direction  based  on  preferences that are hard-coded into the program.
79       If the highest slope is flat and in more than one  direction  then  the
80       code  first  tries to select an alternative based on flow directions in
81       the adjacent cells. r.fill.dir iterates that process, effectively prop‐
82       agating  flow directions from areas where the directions are known into
83       the area where the flow direction cannot otherwise be resolved.
84
85       The format parameter is the type of format at which the user wishes  to
86       create  the  flow direction map.  The flow direction map can be encoded
87       in GRASS GIS aspect format, ANSWERS (Beasley  et.al,  1982),  or  AGNPS
88       (Young  et.al, 1985) format, so that it can be readily used as input to
89       other GRASS GIS modules or the aforementioned hydrological models.  The
90       grass format gives the same category values as r.slope.aspect gives for
91       aspect, i.e. angles in degrees counter-clockwise from east in 45 degree
92       increments.   The  agnps  format gives category values from 1-8, with 1
93       facing north and increasing values in  the  clockwise  direction.   The
94       answers format gives category values from 0-360 degrees, with 0 (repre‐
95       sented as 360) facing east and values increasing in the  counter-clock‐
96       wise direction at 45 degree increments.
97
98       In  case  of local problems, those unfilled areas can be stored option‐
99       ally.  Each unfilled area  in  this  maps  is  numbered.  The  -f  flag
100       instructs  the  program  to fill single-cell pits but otherwise to just
101       find the undrained areas and exit. With the -f  flag  set  the  program
102       writes  an elevation map with just single-cell pits filled, a direction
103       map with unresolved problems and a map of the undrained areas that were
104       found but not filled. This option was included because filling DEMs was
105       often not the best way to solve a drainage problem. These  options  let
106       the  user  get  a partially-fixed elevation map, identify the remaining
107       problems and fix the problems appropriately.
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109       In some cases it may be necessary to run r.fill.dir  repeatedly  (using
110       output  from  one  run  as input to the next run) before all of problem
111       areas are filled.
112
113       The resulting depressionless elevation raster map can further  be  pro‐
114       cessed  to  derive slopes and other attributes required by other hydro‐
115       logical models.
116
117       As any GRASS GIS module, r.fill.dir is sensitive to  the  computational
118       region  settings. Thus the module can be used to generate a flow direc‐
119       tion map for any sub-area within the full map layer.  Also,  r.fill.dir
120       is sensitive to any raster MASK in effect.
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NOTES

123           ·   The  r.fill.dir module can be used not only to fill depression,
124               but also to detect water bodies or potential water bodies based
125               on  the  nature  of the terrain and the digital elevation model
126               used.
127
128           ·   Not all depressions are errors in digital elevation models.  In
129               fact, many are wetlands and as Jenkins and McCauley (2006) note
130               careless use of depression filling may lead to unintended  con‐
131               sequences such as loss of wetlands.
132
133           ·   Although  many hydrological algorithms require depression fill‐
134               ing, advanced algorithms such as those implemented in  r.water‐
135               shed and r.sim.water do not require depressionless digital ele‐
136               vation model to work.
137
138           ·   The flow direction map can be visualized with d.rast.arrow.
139

EXAMPLES

141       Generic example:  create  a  depressionless  (sinkless)  elevation  map
142       ansi.fill.elev and a flow direction map ansi.asp for the type "grass":
143       r.fill.dir input=ansi.elev output=ansi.fill.elev direction=ansi.asp
144
145       North  Carolina  sample dataset example: The LiDAR derived 1m elevation
146       map is sink-filled. The outcome are a depressionless elevation map, the
147       flow direction map and an error map.
148       # set computational region to elevation map
149       g.region raster=elev_lid792_1m -p
150       # generate depressionless DEM and related maps
151       r.fill.dir input=elev_lid792_1m output=elev_lid792_1m_filled \
152                  direction=elev_lid792_1m_dir areas=elev_lid792_1m_error
153       # generate elevation map of pixelwise differences to see obtained terrain alterations
154       r.mapcalc "elev_lid792_1m_diff = elev_lid792_1m_filled - elev_lid792_1m"
155       r.colors elev_lid792_1m_diff color=differences
156       # assess univariate statistics of differences
157       r.univar -e elev_lid792_1m_diff
158       # vectorize filled areas (here all fills are of positive value, see r.univar output)
159       r.mapcalc "elev_lid792_1m_fill_area = if(elev_lid792_1m_diff > 0.0, 1, null() )"
160       r.to.vect input=elev_lid792_1m_fill_area output=elev_lid792_1m_fill_area type=area
161       # generate shaded terrain for better visibility of results
162       r.relief input=elev_lid792_1m_filled output=elev_lid792_1m_filled_shade
163       d.mon wx0
164       d.shade shade=elev_lid792_1m_filled_shade color=elev_lid792_1m_filled
165       d.vect elev_lid792_1m_fill_area type=boundary color=red
166       Figure: Sink-filled DEM (shown as shaded terrain) with areas of filling
167       shown as vector polygons
168

REFERENCES

170           ·   Beasley, D.B. and L.F. Huggins. 1982. ANSWERS  (areal  nonpoint
171               source  watershed  environmental  response  simulation): User’s
172               manual. U.S. EPA-905/9-82-001, Chicago, IL, 54 p.
173
174           ·   Jenkins, D. G., and McCauley, L. A. 2006.   GIS,  SINKS,  FILL,
175               and disappearing wetlands: unintended consequences in algorithm
176               development and use.  In Proceedings of the 2006 ACM  symposium
177               on applied computing (pp. 277-282).
178
179           ·   Jenson,  S.K.,  and J.O. Domingue. 1988. Extracting topographic
180               structure from digital  elevation  model  data  for  geographic
181               information system analysis. Photogram.  Engr. and Remote Sens.
182               54: 1593-1600.
183
184           ·   Young, R.A., C.A. Onstad, D.D. Bosch and W.P.  Anderson.  1985.
185               Agricultural nonpoint surface pollution models (AGNPS) I and II
186               model documentation. St. Paul: Minn. Pollution  control  Agency
187               and Washington D.C., USDA-Agricultural Research Service.
188

SEE ALSO

190        d.rast.arrow, d.shade, g.region, r.fillnulls, r.relief, r.slope.aspect
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AUTHORS

193       Fortran  version: Raghavan Srinivasan, Agricultural Engineering Depart‐
194       ment, Purdue University
195       Rewrite to C with enhancements: Roger S. Miller
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197       Last changed: $Date: 2017-11-25 23:35:40 +0100 (Sat, 25 Nov 2017) $
198

SOURCE CODE

200       Available at: r.fill.dir source code (history)
201
202       Main index | Raster index | Topics index | Keywords index  |  Graphical
203       index | Full index
204
205       © 2003-2019 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 7.4.4 Reference Manual
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209GRASS 7.4.4                                                      r.fill.dir(1)
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