[Paper Review] Elevation Contour Analysis and Water body Extraction for Finding Water Scarcity Locations using DEM

B. G. Kodge, P. S. Hiremath|arXiv (Cornell University)|Apr 11, 2014

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques2 references3 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method for identifying water scarcity locations by analyzing elevation contours and extracting water bodies from Digital Elevation Models (DEM). It uses contour line processing and automated water body detection to locate villages in low-elevation, water-scarce regions, though the study was withdrawn due to issues with spatial data projection and inaccurate contour outputs.

ABSTRACT

The present study was aimed to create new methods for extraction and analysis of land elevation contour lines, automatic extraction of water bodies (river basins and lakes), from the digital elevation models (DEM) of a test area. And extraction of villages which are fell under critical water scarcity regions for agriculture and drinking water with respect to their elevation data and available natural water resources.

Motivation & Objective

• To develop automated techniques for extracting elevation contour lines from Digital Elevation Models (DEM).
• To enable automatic detection of natural water bodies such as rivers and lakes using DEM data.
• To identify villages located in low-elevation, water-scarce regions based on topographic and hydrological data.
• To support water resource planning by mapping critical water scarcity zones using terrain analysis.
• To integrate elevation data with village locations to assess vulnerability to water scarcity in agriculture and drinking water supply.

Proposed method

• Processing raw DEM data to extract contour lines at specified elevation intervals using GIS-based algorithms.
• Applying morphological and threshold-based image processing techniques to detect and segment water bodies from DEM-derived surface depressions.
• Using spatial overlay analysis to correlate extracted water bodies with village locations within the study area.
• Analyzing elevation trends and slope gradients to identify low-lying regions with limited access to natural water sources.
• Validating results against known water scarcity zones to assess accuracy of the method.
• Employing geographic information systems (GIS) for visualization and spatial analysis of water scarcity risk zones.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How accurately can elevation contour lines be extracted from DEM data for hydrological analysis?
• RQ2 To what extent can water bodies such as rivers and lakes be automatically detected from DEMs using image processing?
• RQ3 Which villages are located in low-elevation, topographically isolated regions with minimal access to natural water sources?
• RQ4 How do elevation and proximity to water bodies correlate with water scarcity in rural agricultural areas?
• RQ5 What are the limitations of DEM-based water scarcity mapping when spatial data is unprojected or improperly processed?

Key findings

• The method successfully extracted contour lines and water bodies from DEM data, demonstrating feasibility in terrain analysis.
• Villages located in low-elevation zones with no nearby water bodies were identified as high-risk for water scarcity.
• The study revealed spatial inconsistencies in contour outputs due to unprojected spatial data, leading to inaccuracies.
• The paper was ultimately withdrawn due to technical flaws in data projection and contour generation, undermining reliability.
• Despite methodological promise, the results were invalidated by systematic errors in geospatial processing.
• The study highlights the critical importance of proper spatial data handling in DEM-based environmental assessments.