The backbone of any schematic is the stream alignment, and is the starting point in creating a schematic. A stream alignment is a one-dimensional river coordinate system, which defines the natural downstream flow network. Also, from the stream centerline, stationing will be provided relative to its global location and specific to the study. The alignment indicates where confluences and bifurcations occur and provides a sense of distance and scale. Stream alignments are composed of a series of streams, stream nodes, and stream junctions.

The PDT has discussed the extents of the main stem for the study and has included all of the tributaries that will be considered by all of the models in the study. The PDT has created a shapefile that contains all of the pertinent streams - RR_StreamAlignment.shp.

To import a stream alignment: 

  1. From the Map Layers tree, right-click on Stream Alignment. From the shortcut menu, click Import. The Import Stream Alignment dialog opens. The Shapefile Name list defaults to the first line shapefile it can find in the maps directory; which happens to be the shapefile that represents the stream alignment for the RussianRiver study - RR_StreamAlignment.shp.
  2. From the Database Field Name list, the user needs to select the field name in the attribute file that contains the names of the streams - Name. Once a field name is selected, the table below will populate with the streams contained in the shapefile. 

    Note: If there is an issue with any of the stream segments the checkbox in the Import column will not be selected. This means the stream segment is not continuous and will not be imported.

    Import Stream Alignment Dialog



  3. Click Reverse Direction. 

    The flow direction in the RR_StreamAlignment.shp shapefile is not correct. So instead of fixing the issue with ArcMap® (ESRI GIS software), by performing the Reserve Direction procedure the system of streams will have the correct flow direction.

  4. Click Import, a message window will appear letting the user know that the stream alignment imported successfully. Click OK, the Import Stream Alignment dialog box will close. In the active Map Window the stream alignment appears (orange stream segments; green stream nodes and stream junctions).