DEM processing and more rock glacier database features

I had been previously using Google Earth to find rock glaciers in the study area, using a overlayed layer that showed me the most likely places. I figured that I could easily convert the KML file over to ArcGIS but it seems like it won't be very efficient. I've decided to start using the orthophotos I have already downloaded and fully work in ArcGIS so that I can write features directly to a shapefile or database.

The first thing that I did today was divide my DEM and my study area up into 4 parts. I wanted to go back and process everything in sections since the original DEM file was so huge and hard to navigate around. I will be using these four study areas for the completion of the rock glacier database.

This screenshot shows the four areas the main study area is divided into. The overlap of the DEM is from the quadrangles of the original data. I am currently processing these DEMs so that they will be in four separate files as well, making processing the individual parts much easier. Since this clip operation is computationally intensive, I have left all four to finish overnight via a script.



The next thing that I will do is finish downloading the orthophotos for the areas that I need. Since not all the counties are actually favorable for rock glaciers, I will only get the files that I absolutely need and get rid of the rest. The orthophotos take up a lot of disk space.

I currently still only have about 150 rock glaciers in ArcGIS, I am hoping that I can find another source of orthos since my current ones don't seem to be the best quality. I am using Google Earth in conjunction with the older orthos in order to verify a rock glacier is actually there.

Later this week I hope to be fully finished with the rock glacier database so that I can start doing analysis on the ones that I have found.

Currently completed 66/90 hours as of 4/23/2009