Once Upon a River Map | Maps We Love

Why we love it

This map application is deceptively simple upon first glance, but rewards your curiosity with every mouse click. As you explore each river you find rich details and stunning patterns. Move your cursor over a river to see its network and a month-by-month chart of water flow for 2014. We also love this feature: Put your cursor at the centre of the radial chart, and slowly pull downward to navigate a river from where it meets the ocean or international border.

Why it works

On this map, every pixel is data. It does not have unnecessary ornamentation, not even the traditional basemap, borders and text labels. Now the data and its patterns take centtr stage. This interactive map shows us how river flow changes throughout the year, and how the timing of maximum flow changes based on geographic region. This same technique could be used to map rail, logistics, shipping or telecommunications.

Important steps

Create network from data

Create a river network from the USGS National Hydrographic Dataset.

Learn more and download here

Ensure clarity for use

Adjust features to ensure connectivity, direction of flow, and generalization for use in small scale mapping.

View preview application

Attribute features

Attribute features with USGS flow data

Download USGS WaterWatch

Configure the source code

Download the source code for this application and configure it to the river network you created.

Requirements

Data and software

You need a river network, represented as connected linear features, each with a direction of flow and volume of flow. Software used: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst, ArcGIS Network Analyst.