Establishing a Basic GIS Database for Madarsoo Watershed in Golestan (Iran)

Remote-sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques have been utilized in this study to establish a GIS database for Madarsoo watershed in Golestan Province. Among the major constituents of this database we can refer to are: composite multicolor images from LANDSAT TM (30 m resolution); Indian IRS 1C/1D (23.5 and 5.8 m resolution) and Quick Bird (60 cm resolution) satellites and land-use/land-cover maps derived from these images; road networks; soil information; Digital Terrain Model (DTM); slope and aspect information derived from Digital Elevation Model; and meteorological and hydrological data. A 'project office' was established with trained personnel at a provincial centre effectively to use the resultant GIS in planning, monitoring and in applications for flood management, as well as to update it regularly. The approach of geographical data base has the potential to store and manage different data with different formats seamlessly. On the other hand it prevents repeating data, decrease errors, and saves the time and expens. The estaldished data base was applied in mike 11 software to hydrological and hydrolical analysis of flood in the studying area.