Flood Boundary Comparison Using ENVI and GIS

Learning Unit Description:

The Integrated Geospatial Education and Technology Training Project (iGETT) presents a series of Learning Units (LU) designed to incorporate federal land remote sensing data into Geographic Information System (GIS) instruction. The Flood Boundary Comparison LU examines the effects of data resolution and classification by comparing recorded boundaries of a 2008 flood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, "one set drawn from Landsat Imagery using ENVI 4.5 and NDWI, and one the flood boundaries drawn by Linn County GIS Department using imagery that was flown at the time of the flood." The unit shows how differences in image resolution affect perception and classification.

The iGETT Learning Units amount to about two weeks of instruction and are designed for use both as “skills-based case studies and building blocks for new courses.” All LUs are intended for students with a basic understanding of GIS. Each LU includes three core documents, an instructor’s guide, a student guide, and a curriculum support document, as well as the remote sensing data needed to complete the unit.

For orientation purposes, viewers should begin with Brown_Thumbnail.pdf, which offers a description of the LU as well as an overview of topics covered, required software, and the intended audience.

Learning Unit Contents:

The attached files associated with this LU exist in a variety of formats including .zip, .rar, .pdf, .tif, and a variety of geospatial data file types.

Below is a list of the files contained in the .zip attachment, with the file name and size provided in parenthesis.

Core Documents

• Student Handout (Brown_SH.pdf 13MB)
• Curriculum Support Document - Outline of Content (flood_brown_CSD_jan2009.pdf 27KB)
• Instructor Guide (Brown_IG.pdf 155KB)
• Determining Flood Risk in Iowa Thumbnail (Brown_Thumbnail.pdf 182KB)
• Compressed Archive (GB_SupportDocs.rar 725KB)

​Zip Data

• Iowa Roads data (iowa_roads 10 data files, 318.6MB)
• County data (County 8 data files, 605KB)
• Cedar Rapids Flood data (CR_Flood)
  • (FloodedAreas_Project.dbf 346 bytes)
  • (FloodedAreas_Project.sbn 140 bytes)
  • (FloodedAreas_Project.sbx 116 bytes)
  • (FloodedAreas_Project.shp 815KB)
  • (FloodedAreas_Project.shp.xml 3KB)
  • (FloodedAreas_Project.shx 116 bytes)
  • (FloodedAreas_Project.prj 402 bytes)
  • Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
    • Elevation_NED10M_822730_01 (79 data files, 184.7MB)
• Rivers (rivers_57, 5 data files, 1.3MB)