Google Earth Tutorials

The Google Earth maps the terrain by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and geographic information system (GIS) onto a 3D globe. This software can be used by the Irrigation Engineers to map and analyze various water resources parameters. The initial action to be taken by the officers is to map the Canals, Lift irrigation schemes, MI schemes, Ayacut areas etc.

The purpose of this document is to familiarize the officers of the Irrigation department regarding the uses of the Google Earth so that they can map the water resources parameters in a better way. This will also enable the officers of the department to use effectively the new Irrigation Bhuvan portal being developed by the ISRO. Various activities for operating the Google earth is listed below.

Down load Google Earth: - This software can be down loaded from the internet to the User’s computer. Click on the icon in the desktop to launch the software. Some of the actions that can be performed are given below

Locating a point

The place name shall be typed in the Search space and the required place name can be selected from the list displayed. Alternately, the Latitude- Longitude of the location can be typed into the search space to locate the position in the map.

Lat-long shall be entered in the decimal format with a space in between as shown in the figure. The ‘Pinhead Icon’ will indicate the location corresponding to the Lat-long. Right Click on the icon and select ‘Properties’ to display Properties dialog box.

The properties of the Placemark can be modified using this dialog box. The name of the placemark shall be suitable to the project being taken up( for eg. Canal A1). The shape, Style Color etc can be changed using this dialog box.

For locating the Lift Irrigation schemes and pertinent points in the canal, the location has to be fixed by searching, zooming and panning by the tools in top right corner of the screen. The GPS or mobile phone shall be used to get lat- long by going to the site, if the locating from the Google earth screen is difficult. Appropriate name shall be given to the placemark.

Right click on ‘My Place’ - Add – Folder

Give the name of the folder as section of the department. Locate the pertinent points in the canal by adding placemark for the point location and “Path” for the canal/ Pipe line. The option Polygon can be used for marking ayacut area. (while selecting the Polygon option, change the area to ‘Outlined’ in the “Style Color” tab in “Property” dialog box.

Plotting the canal alignment

For identifying the locations and canal alignments, the user has to be familiar with the terrain. The usage of GPS (available with the hydrology wing) is to be familiarized by the concerned Assistant Engineers. Alternately the mobile phones can be used for identifying the lat long of the point of interest.

Control points with the Latitude –Longitude obtained from GPS or mobile phones are to be established as placemark to trace the canal or ayacut. Various points in canal/Branch canals/Distributaries are to be identified by going to the location and obtaining its lat-long values. These points are to be marked in their computers as placemark as explained earlier in this document. Periphery of the ayacut area are also to be marked in the same method. The canal

alignment can be plotted on the computer once the control points (points in the canal) are fixed. The points can be joined by selecting ‘Add path’ button in the tool bar to trace the canal. The suitable folder shall be highlighted while selecting the button. Name the path suitably and move the dialog box to a side by clicking the top of the dialog box and dragging. Click at one of the control points and trace the path, click ‘ok’ when one segment of the canal is complete. Once the canal segments are complete, select a new ‘add path’ to join all segments together to have a single line for a canal. The options ‘cut’ and ‘paste’ can be used to store it under the section folder. The length of the canal can be obtained by right clicking the name and clicking ‘Properties’.

The ayacut also can be plotted by this method and “Google EarthPro” can be downloaded to measure the area. The Google Earth Pro was a paid service till recently but now it can be used without any charges.

The folder can be saved as KML file by the option “Save Place As”. The KML file can be opened in another computer and can be consolidated at Division level.

The “Options….” menu in the “Tools” button can be used to display the location ( Show Lat/Long) in Decimal Degrees and measurements in Meters.

Training

Online training can be arranged for a group of officers for the mapping procedure through the Internet. The sharing software ‘Team Viewer” shall be down loaded and the procedure can be explained over phone with net connected computer. Those who need online training may contact Shri Thomas Mathew, Joint Director, IDRB on 0471-2784010. The requirements for conducting training program are as follows

• The Training will be conducted at Division/ Subdivision office with net facility • The computer for training shall have Google Earth, Google Earth PRO and “Team

Viewer” installed in it. • The trainees shall be made aware of the Google Earth software and the above training

material • Minimum 5 officers shall be present at the respective office for training • The duration of a training session will be 45 minutes. Sessions will be scattered for

encouraging self practice. Sessions will be arranged in the 2pm to 3.30pm slot. • The “Team Viewer” enables the officer at IDRB to control the trainee’s computer

remotely and instructions to operate shall be given over phone in speaker phone option.

Queries in this regard may be posted in the Blog of idrb.kerala.gov.in . The user name and password for this activity can be obtained from Smt. Meena Kumari S S, Deputy Director, IDRB on 0471-2784014 or Sri. Anil Kumar S, Assistant Director, IDRB on 0471-2784025.

Action by the Field officers

The success of this Mapping project requires active participation of the field officers. It is presumed that the total canal length in the state comes to around 6000 km. The time period for collecting and consolidation of data is taken as 6 Months. The officer concerned shall do the following activities for fast and efficient mapping

• The officer of the canal segment shall make themselves familiar with terrain in Google Earth. He/She shall be conversant with road, buildings etc in the vicinity of the canal to align the canal accurately.

• The latitude – Longitude in decimal format shall be obtained by field visit. It is advised that Lat long at an interval of 100m may be taken with GPS or Mobile Phone. The location of curve, Foot Bridge, section where the cross section changes, etc. are to be taken. The canal can be plotted by joining the collected points. The canal path can also be traced in GPS/ Android Mobile phone and can be directly included in the Google Earth using KML file option. The Periphery of the Ayacut area can be identified with GPS and the area can be plotted with ‘Polygon’ tool. The area of polygon can obtained from Google Earth Pro.

• The GPS will be available with the Hydrology sections / Quality control sections. • (Efforts shall be made by the tech savvy engineers to down load appropriate GPS app

from the ‘Google Play store’ from their Android phones. The option of using converting GPX files to KML files for tracing the canal in Google earth). This step is optional

• The Lat long obtained from Mobile phone may not be accurate but it is sufficient for locating position along with terrain details from Google Earth.

• All the pertinent details are to be collected regarding the canal including the location (Lat- long) of all important points are to be noted in a book. The required details may be entered in the excel sheet as shown below.

• During the second phase of the project, Kilometer stones shall be planted, lat long of which shall be taken if known.

• The second phase involves the plotting of acquired land by suitable GIS firms. The details of canal land shall be kept handy for this purpose.

• During the field visits maximum data possible shall be collected and shall be recorded. The format given below may change as per the discussion with field officers. The purpose of the EXCEL sheet is get a comprehensive data base of the canals in the state and incorporate them into the GIS software of WRIS (Water Resources Information System)

• Item No 5 (length of canal From to) can be made such that all the important details can be tabulated.

• The collected data shall be analysed at Division level and accuracy of data collected has to be certified by the Executive Engineers.

Details in EXCEL

The Google Earth is used to fix the location of salient points and the alignment of the canal in a GIS format. The other details pertaining to the LI Schemes and canals are to be incorporated into Quantum GIS or ArcGIS by the engineers of IDRB. For this a format in excel is given below in which the details are to be entered by the field officers. It shall be kept in mind that the rows and columns of the details, are kept as it given here so that files from all the offices can be merged together.

Format for LI Scheme

Details of LI Scheme

1 Name of Scheme 2 Division Office &phone No. 3 Sub Division Office &phone No 4 Section Office &phone No 5 River Basin 6 District 7 Location Latitude 8 Longitude 9 Power of motor

10 Lift in metres 11 Duration of pumping 12 Length of canal/Pipe 13 End of canal/Pipe- Latitude

14

Longitude 15 Ayacut area served 16 Whether working or not 17 Problems with system

18 Amount required for repair/Renovation :

19 Remarks

Format for Canals (write up in red are for indicating only)

1 Project Name KIP

2 Canal name RBC

3 Main/ Branch/ Distributary Kowdiar Distributary

4 Canal Code

5 Length from to 0-500 500-2500 2500-3100 3100-4212

6 Section office 7 Mobile Number 8 Bottom width m 2 2 1.5 1 9 Top width 3.5 3.5 2.4 1.5

10 Side slope 1:1 1:1 1:01 1.1 11 Bed Slope 12 Full supply Depth 13 Lined/Unlined Lined Lined Lined Unlined 14 Design Discharge m3/sec 20 15 Actual Discharge m3/sec 5 16 Days of operation in a year 10 10 5 0 17 Ayacut area in Hectare 20 300 250 250

18 Whether water reaches the tail end Yes Yes Yes Yes

19 Present problem with the canal

20 Approx Amount needed for Restoration Rs. Lakhs 20 10 15 20

21 Whether Acquired lands can be plotted Yes Yes Yes Yes

22 ABSTRACT 23 Length of Lined Canal m 3100 24 Length of Unlined Canal m 1212 25 Total Length of canals m 6000 26 Ayacut area hectare 820

27 Details of Canal and crossings Lat long Details & Remarks

Aquiduct at 100 to 185m Start 9.83563 72.6345 2m x 1m size

Road bridge at 300m 9.83141 72.632 8m wide road Cut & Cover 620-680m 9.83563 72.6345 2m x 1m size Spout at 1200 9.83141 72.632 To field C Foot bridges at 1505m 9.8361 72.6345 1.5m wide Syphon 1620-1688m 9.83563 72.6345 Offtake at 2115 9.83254 72.6123 to ayacut A Open flume 2671 to 2811m 9.83141 72.632

Aquiduct at 2911 to 3011m 9.8361 72.6345

Spout at 2785m 9.83563 72.6345 To field

channel B Field Pothy at 2900m 9.83254 72.6123 To field D Super passage at 3093m 9.83141 72.632 Flush escape at 4002m 9.8361 72.6345 End of canal at 4212m 9.83563 72.6345

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Note : Tips and new methods in Google Earth by the experienced users, to be added to this document may be emailed to wrisidrb@gmail.com. The mobile phone technology explored shall also be published for the benefit of other engineers.

Engineers who are willing to provide training to other engineers shall inform their name to IDRB. They will be provided with TA & DA for trainings.

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Additional Points 18-04-2017

One of the main objectives of this exercise is to identify the survey numbers and extent of the acquired lands for the establishment of canal network and LI Schemes. The Cadastral maps showing the survey numbers in GIS platform are available with Information Kerala Mission and KSREC. Once the GPS Points are available, it can be overlaid in Cadastral map to get the survey numbers which are to be used by the concerned AE to get details of acquired land from the Village office.

The output of GPS track of PVIP canal overlaid on Cadastral Map is shown below. In order to identify the location, Lat long of chainages at every 50m are to be taken by the GPS. Maximum canal details are also to be collected for the purpose of canal maintenance and possible installation of SCADA, the canal automation system at a later date. Details shall include location of Kilometer points, aqueducts, lined canals, field boothies, outlets etc. The ayacut boundaries need to be identified from site or through Google Earth to find its area through ‘Google earth Pro”.

Officers may contact Mr. Seath, GIS lab on 9995357317 for questions regarding the mapping of canal and procedure for it.