Drainage line processing

Question

Hi - I am having troubles with the drainage line processing tool.  I am using version 2.0.1.133 in 10.  I am trying to process one 8-digit HUC using the 60 m NED in Alaska.  I am using a small threshold to initiate streams (~ 1 km2) so that I can capture small headwaters and generally match the confirmed streams in the NHD.  This results in ~5,000 catchments.  GIS seizes up once I get to the drainage line processing tool.  If I hit cancel, the drainageline feature class is created, but it is missing HydroID, gridID, and nextdownID so that I can't continue on with the adjoint catchment processing tool.

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks.

MarkBoucher · Answer

I've learned a few things since 2011. You can find tips that will help Arc Hydro work faster and with fewer errors/crashes at the link below my signature.

TobiasOker1 · Answer

I opened the DEM in a new file and everything works just fine. Trick seems to be to get rid of the original layers from which the projected DEM was clipped.

MarkBoucher · Answer

... This results in ~5,000 catchments.  GIS seizes up once I get to the drainage line processing tool.  ...

My Guess is that you are asking for too many catchments, though I'm not aware of any upper limit Arc Hydro has.

Make sure the temp files are cleared out before you start (ApUtilities>Additional Utilities>Clean User's Temp File), and reduce the number of catchments by increasing the initiate streams threshold. (I'm using v10. Not sure if this is in earlier versions. See http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/29202-Solving-Arc-Hydro-Problems-by-deleting-TMP-Files for another way to clear the temp files.).

Also, I've found Arc Hydro will look like it is seized up when it is still processing. Maybe you need to let it go longer before you cancel it. Can you let it run over night?

If at your wits end, start with a fresh mxd and simplify things: small rawdem (takes less time), big initiate streams value (to see if size matters).