APPLICATION OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM IN WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

Abstract

A watershed is made up of the natural resources in a basin, especially the water, soil and the vegetation factor. The comprehensive development of a basin so as to make productive use of all its natural resources and also protect them is termed watershed management. Watershed management particularly refers to the development and management of land and water resources. This. requires a reliable information on various characteristics of a watershed such as topography, land cover, rainfall, drainage, soils, geology, etc. The information normally acquired from different sources for watershed management is large in volume and needs an efficient system which stores, handles, manipulates and analyzes this information. Geographic Information System (GIS) is a .computer based system designed to store, process and analyze spatial data and their corresponding attribute information. Due to their capabilities and wide application the GISs are becoming important in natural resources management....