Automatic Measurement of Drainage Networks

Two methods for measuring network lengths and areas by automatic methods are discussed. Results of experiments using drainage networks are presented and indicate that further study and refinement are warranted. The first method involves etching the network on a copper plate and measuring its capacitance. The capacitance of each network plate is shown to have a strong association with the total length of the stream network. The second method uses a flying-spot scanner on either hand-drafted transparencies or directly on radar images. Data obtained by measurement of the edge-enhanced lines marking film-density boundaries show a high correlation with the total length of stream networks. Application of this latter method would permit acquisition of terrain data from large areas in a very short time.