Topographic and Hydrologic Analyses using Geographic Information System (GIS): A Case Study of Karbala City-Iraq

Abstract

Analyses are the power point of GIS because GIS can process and analyze different data such as spatial and attribute data, leading to obtaining new results for supporting decision-makers. This research aims to study two types of advanced analyses include; topographic and hydrologic analyses for the western part of Karbala in Iraq using GIS. The topographic analysis aims to know surface terrain and obtain the results of digital maps that show the simulation of the study area based on some methods and tools in GIS after creating DEM for study area from field survey methods such as slope, aspect, hill shades, and contour maps. After that, hydrologic analysis is done based on DEM of the study area, where this analysis gives digital maps that show the main and minor hydrological properties of the region, such as flow direction, flow accumulation, stream order, and basin maps. These analyses are very important for making decisions in studying the topographic and hydrologic properties of any region in Iraq, and the GIS technique offers a save in time, cost and efforts.