REPRESENTATION OF SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DATA IN ARCGIS Jonathan Goodall, David Maidment and Jennifer Sorenson*

ABSTRACT: The representation of hydrologic phenomena in a Geographic Information System (GIS) requires the integration of geospatial data with time series. Rainfall, streamflow, nutrient loading, and stage are examples of hydrologic parameters that exhibit high spatial and temporal variability and, therefore, must be described with both spatial and temporal data. While the representation and visualization of geospatial hydrologic data in GIS is established practice, extending GIS to the temporal domain is a relatively new concept that introduces additional complexities. For example, hydrologic parameters can vary continuously over space and time (rainfall) or they can be recorded regularly (streamflow) or irregularly (water quality) at gages. In addition, hydrologic objects can have dynamic shapes (floodplain inundation) or their existence can be time-indexed (addition or removal of flow control structures). Understanding how to represent these cases in a GIS, and how ArcGIS can be used to render dynamic visualizations of temporal events, requires a data model for the temporal as well as spatial domains. This research explains enhancements to the temporal component of the Arc Hydro Data Model to better represent the various time series cases possible with hydrologic information. The result is a time series data model consisting of four components: Time Series, Attribute Series, Feature Series, and Raster Series. Time series describes the traditional, non-spatial use of time series, Attribute Series describes stationary features with dynamic attribute values, Feature Series describes moving features with dynamic attribute values, and Raster Series describes a sequence of raster datasets through time. KEY TERMS: GIS, space time representation, dynamic rendering, ArcGIS Tracking Analyst INTRODUCTION To understand the dynamics of a hydrologic event, one must consider how that event varies both in space and time. Historically, hydrology has focused on temporal data, called time series, such as stream flow and precipitation measurements. More recently, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have allowed hydrologists to incorporate geospatially referenced data sets into their modeling, but at the expense of losing temporal complexities (Peuquet, 2001). These two worlds, hydrology and GIS, remain disconnected in part because hydrology was developed around time and GIS around space. To more fully integrate GIS and hydrology, therefore, requires a framework for representing both spatial and temporal information in GIS. One such framework is the Arc Hydro Data Model (Maidment, 2002a). Arc Hydro is a blueprint for constructing a spatial database containing both geospatial and temporal hydrologic information. The data model was largely a conceptual project and has only recently been applied to real-world problems. As is often the case, application of the data model has highlighted some areas for improvement. These areas specifically deal with the representation of temporally complex hydrologic phenomena, such as features that move or change shape over time or those that vary continuously over space through time. To address these limitations, the Arc Hydro time series component is being extended to better accommodate complex temporal dynamics. This paper describes enhancements to the time series component of the Arc Hydro Data Model to better account for the storage and visualization of temporally complex hydrology data. Whereas the original time series component consisted of only one type of time series, now called Attribute Series, the enhanced component includes three additional types: Feature Series, Raster Series, and Time Series. The focus of this paper is the conceptual design of the enhanced time series component. Sorenson et al. (2004) presents an application of the time series components for managing hydrologic information for the South Florida Water Management *Respectively, Graduate Student, Professor, and Graduate Student, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Civil Engineering, Center for Research in Water Resources, Pickle Research Campus, Bldg 119, MC R8000, University of Texas,

Austin, TX 78712, Phone (512) 471-3131, Fax: (512) 471-0072, E-mail goodalljl@mail.utexas.edu, maidment@mail.utexas.edu, sorenson@mail.utexas.edu. District. THE ARC HYDRO DATA MODEL TIME SERIES COMPONENT The Arc Hydro Data Model consists of four spatial components, Drainage, Hydrography, Network, and Channel, and one temporal component, Time Series (Figure 1). The spatial components, or feature datasets, contain feature classes relevant to that component. For example, the Drainage System component contains the Watershed feature class and the Hydrography component contains the MonitoringPoint feature class. Every feature within every feature class across all four components is assigned a unique identifier called HydroID. HydroID is used to relate features and objects internal to the geodatabase.

Figure 1. The five components of the Arc Hydro Data Model (Maidment, 2002b) The temporal component of Arc Hydro contains two object classes that describe what, when, and where a measurement was recorded: TimeSeries and TSType. The TimeSeries object class contains the attributes TSvalue, TSDateTime, TSTypeID, and FeatureID. TSvalue is the numeric value measured or calculated and TSDateTime is the date and time when the value was recorded. TSTypeID points to the TSType object class where the specifics of the variable type are defined. Finally, FeatureID refers to the HydroID of the feature where the value is applicable; it is the HydroID of that feature. The TSType object class contains the attributes TSTypeID, Variable, Units, IsRegular, TSInterval, DataType, and Origin. TSTypeID is the unique identifier for an object in the TSType object class and provides the link between the TimeSeries and TSType object classes. Variable is a string field that contains a description of what was measured or calculated (e.g. rainfall, dissolved oxygen concentration, etc). IsRegular is a Boolean field that is true if the values were collected on a regular basis and false if they were collected irregularly. If the values are regular, then the interval is defined in TSInterval. DataType is a coded value domain that distinguishes between six types of hydrologic data: instantaneous, cumulative, incremental, averaged, maximum, and minimum. Finally, Origin is also a coded value domain that tells whether the values were measured or calculate. The temporal component is linked to the spatial components through the FeatureID/HydroID relationship (Figure 2). The result of this relationship between the temporal and spatial information allows one to query the database using both spatial and temporal descriptions. For example, one can query for the time series measurements recorded at all gages within a specific basin (space) over some period (time). Data extracted through queries can then be used as input to simulation models.

Figure 2. How spatial and temporal information is related in Arc Hydro. The FeatureID of the TimeSeries table relates to the HydroID of the MonitoringPoint feature class. The MonitoringPoint features are labeled according to their HydroID. The original thought model for developing the Arc Hydro time series component was to depict information in a 3-D cube with the axes being variable, space, and time. The variable axis describes what was recorded, the space axis describes where it was recorded, and the time axis describes when it was recorded. One point in the variable-space-time cube represents one measurement value and a plane cut through the cube gives a set of time series measurements where either the variable, space, or time is constant and the other two vary. Using this conceptual model, one could extract a variety of time series sets by selecting only a portion of the complete variable-space-time cube. This conceptual model of time series in GIS provides a generic framework that can be applied to solve many of the issues when integrating space and time in a GIS. It works particularly well for representing stationary, discrete features with temporally varying attribute values (like a stream gage). The model, however, is unable to represent time series when measurements can not be strictly defined by what, when, and where. Examples of such situations include simulation model output that is indexed by only a value and a time with no direct spatial relationship, a feature whose location or extent is time dependent, or a variable that is measured as a set of time-indexed rasters. To include these exceptions to the variable-space-time cube conceptual model requires including other conceptual models for different types of time series. These additional types of time series are prevalent in hydrology and are central to representing hydrologic information in a database. Therefore, it is worthwhile to develop standard methods for describing these types of time series in Arc Hydro. We propose extending the Arc Hydro time series component to include three new types of time series, in addition to the current type, to address time series referenced by only a variable and time, by a variable, time, and temporally dependent location, and by a variable, time, and raster. ENHANCEMENTS TO THE TIME SERIES COMPONENT It is first important to note the distinction between variable type and time series type. Variable type describes what a set of measurements represent and time series type describes how the information is stored in the geodatabase. In a hierarchical sense, the variable type is above the time series type because one variable type can be stored as any of the time series types. For example, one may store the variable type monthly averaged rainfall in inches as a time series, a feature series, an attribute series, or a raster series, depending on the purposes of the research or how the information is recorded. It is true, however, that certain variable types are better suited for one particular time series type; streamflow is probably best depicted as attribute series. But at the conceptual level, the variable type does restrict the time series type. Three new types of time series were added to the Arc Hydro time series component to address the limitations discussed in the previous section. The new time series types are Feature Series, Raster Series, and Time Series (Figure 3). The original time series type was kept in the component and given the name Attribute Series. The following sections will describe each of these four time series types.

Time Series
Variable

Feature Series

Time

Attribute Series

Raster Series
t

Figure 3. The enhanced Arc Hydro time series component Time Series A Time Series time series type represents time series records that are indexed by variable (i.e. TSValue and TSTypeID) and time (i.e. TSDateTime). Many simulation models outside of the GIS world deal with time series referenced by only these two characteristics. Therefore, the Time Series type is the link between the outside world of hydrologic modeling and the GIS world of spatial and temporal analysis. Although the Time Series type has no direct relationship to spatial information, it is possible to relate it to spatial features through an intermediate table. One set of time series records can be related to one or more spatial features resulting in a many-to-many relationship between the time series records themselves and the spatial features. Because of this, it is recommended that Time Series type information be transferred to Attribute Series information prior to rigorous spatial analysis to eliminate the many-to-many relationship in favor of a one-to-many relationship. Attribute Series An Attribute Series time series type represents time series records that are indexed by variable (i.e. TSValue and TSTypeID), time (TSDateTime), and space (FeatureID). This time series type is identical to the time series type in the original Arc Hydro Time Series component. It is deigned for storing static features with time dependent attributes. It is particularly useful for storing observations at point locations including streamflow, water quality, or precipitation. One spatial feature can be related to one or more time series records, but one time series record can be related to only one feature. Thus, the feature and time series records are related in a one-to-many relationship. Raster Series A Raster Series time series type represents a set of rasters that are indexed by variable type (i.e. TSTypeID) and time (TSDateTime). The rasters are collected and stored in a Raster Catalog where the TSTypeID and TSDateTime fields are populated (Figure 4). The TSTypeID is identical to that used in any of the other time series types. It describes the details of what variable is measured on the raster. Using the Raster Series, a spatially continuous variable (e.g. rainfall) can be stored as in a set of rasters, one for each time step, and all of the rasters can be stored in one Raster Catalog.

Figure 4. Raster series of ponded water depth on the Kissimmee River (Maidment et al., 2003) Feature Series A Feature Series time series type represents a set of features that are indexed by variable (i.e. TSValue and TSTypeID), time (TSDateTime), and a time dependent location (Shape). The Feature Series is designed to store features that change shape or location through time. Examples of such objects include the flood inundation extent represented by a series of polygons, or the path a particle travels as it moves through the environment. The shape attribute describes the objects spatial location and extent at each time stamp. The Feature Series is unique because the time series contains a geometric shape and not just numeric values. This makes the Feature Series a feature class instead of an object class in a geodatabase. VISUALIZING TIME WITHIN ARCGIS One significant benefit of including time series in a GIS framework is that the GIS can be used to visualize data in both time and space. ArcGIS has an extension designed for visualizing temporal dynamics within ArcMap called the Tracking Analyst. The Tracking Analyst works by creating a temporal layer by joining a feature class to an associated time series table (Using the ArcGIS Tracking Analyst, 2002). It then controls how the temporal layer is rendered according to the current time step. As the time step increases, the rendering of the features changes to reflect the present attributes of the data. Currently, only the Attribute Series and Feature Series can be viewed with the Tracking Analyst. Future versions of the software hope to provide visualization capabilities for Raster Series. DHI is building an extension for managing and viewing the Time Series time series type within ArcMap (http://www.dhisoftware.com/mikeobjects/TS_Manager/). It includes a graphing interface through which users can plot time series for features within ArcMap. CONCLUSIONS Enhancements to the Arc Hydro Data Model described in this paper improve the ability to store and visualize complex temporal events in a geographic information system. The four time series types (three new and one from the original Arc Hydro Data Model) allow time series objects referenced by only a variable and time (Time Series), by a variable, time, and location (Attribute Series), by a variable, time, and time dependent location (Feature Series), and by a variable type, time, and time dependent raster (Raster Series). The ability to digitally represent such temporality increases the usefulness of GIS as a tool for understanding hydrologic and water resources phenomena.

REFERENCES Blongewicz, M., 2000. DHIs Water Modeling and GIS. GIS in Water Resources Conference, Austin, TX. Maidment, D.R. (ed.), 2002a. Arc Hydro: GIS for Water Resources. ESRI Press, Redlands, CA. Maidment, D.R., 2002b. Arc Hydro: GIS for Water Resources. University of Florida, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences Research Colloquium, http://www.ees.ufl.edu/programs/archive.asp. Maidment, D.R., Fogg, A., Sorenson, J., Goodall, J.L., Strassberg, G., Martinez, S., Hampson, J., Aurit, M., Mercado, R., and Brink, T. , 2003, Enhanced Arc Hydro Framework for the South Florida Water Management District., Report presented to the South Florida Water Management District. Peuquet, D.J., 2001. Making Space for Time: Issues in Space-Time Data Representation. Geoinformatica 5(1):11-32. Sorenson, J., Maidment, D.R., and Goodall, J.L., 2004, Arc Hydro Time Series Framework for Defining Hydroperiod Inundation, Proceeding of the AWRA GIS in Water Resources III Conference, Nashville, TN. Using the ArcGISTM Tracking Analyst, 2002. ESRI Press, Redlands, CA.