Simplest way to use LIDAR to delineate aquatic resources (e.g., ArcHydro or?)

CountCordyceps

(newbie here) ArcHydro tools is fantastic, but I think it goes into greater detail (hydraulic modelling etc.) than what i need. I am just trying to vet aquatic resource delineations conducted in the field to assess whether all topographic depressions were evaluated; that is, I would like delineate aquatic resources from ArcGIS. I know you can use the raster function "Fill" to get a suss of depressions, but then there are the streams. I have used ESRI's "Terrain Processing" (link below; Case 4-unknown sinks and dendritic terrain), but often encounter errors and it goes beyond what I need. Grateful for any insight.

https://www.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/en-us/media/technical-papers/arc-hydro-overview-of-terrain-preprocessing-workflows.pdf

DeanDjokic

1/12/25

Wish there was a super-button to do what you are asking for (basically what is termed  “elevation derived hydrography” with your additional twist of “aquatic resources”).  There are several additional resources that I can point you to in the domain of Arc Hydro tools, but none will be “simple” and will require your interpretation of the results and potentially iterative approach.

These documents are accessible through Arc Hydro online help (https://esrips.github.io/ah-docs/) under “User Guides and Workflows” tab.

Under “Data Preparation” section:

• “Overview of Terrain Preprocessing Workflows” (you are already using that).
• “Identifying and Managing Sinks”.

Under “Wetland Identification” (WIM).

• “WIM User Guide”.
• “Identifying Wetlands with Deep Learning”.

You can also access these documents through “Water Resources Documents” in the Esri Community (keep scrolling down). Also review the Arc Hydro webinars – there are several that deal with WIM and terrain processing that we presented in the last two years and recordings are available.

As far as running into issues with Arc Hydro tools, if you can specify what those were, we can help you get over those hurdles.  Also, if you can specify explicitly “what you need” as a result of this process we can possibly point you to a different sequence of tools you can use to achieve that goal (our use cases you are referring to are a subset of different approaches, but it all depends on your starting point – what data you have, and what you are trying to get out at the end).  With knowing more details, we can devise a more streamlined process (might not be simpler though).

Dean