How does it work?
To predict water movement you will first need an elevation model for the area of interest. Elevation models can be created by either capturing UAV (aerial) imagery or using elevation data that has been captured by a vehicle passing over the field with a RTK receiver. This could be from an existing farm equipment or vehicles.
An elevation model contains lots of small ‘cells’ (grids) which are assigned and then elevation/height is used to predict the water flow. This is also known as a flow direction matrix. For this to occur a separate group of cells are created that calculate the number of cells which flow into the next based on the elevation assigned to each cell. This is known as the flow accumulation matrix. From this dataset flowpaths and their direction can be extracted and areas of ponding can be identified. Ponding is when the flow accumulation fails to flow onwards and is concentrated to one cell with no exit. Water then gathers in these areas until it fills substantially, forcing onward flow.
